"THIRTY YEARS: WHAT WE'VE LEARNED AND WHAT I'VE LEARNED" by Thomas Doyle, J.C. D., C.A. D. C/Sexual Abuse Scandal in the Roman Catholic Church

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Special-message-from-ARCC---THIRTY-YEARS.html?soid=1106306587785&aid=Ljvs8_e1Qlg

"When I first became involved with the Gauthe case in 1984 I still believed in the Church.  I thought the institutional structure I was part of, and the People of God described by the Second Vatican Council, were one and the same.  In spite of already having served three years on the inside at the Vatican Embassy I still had some confidence in bishops and shared the hope with my colleagues at the time, Mike Peterson and Ray Mouton, that once the bishops became aware of how terrible sexual abuse of a child could be and the potential for scandal of epic proportions, they would quickly step up to the plate and do the right thing,
especially by the victims. "

"I was dead wrong.  Any lingering hopes I may have had were demolished by my
experiences in the years that followed.  I had no idea back then of the extent
of the problem but more important, and worse, I had no idea just how duplicitous and destructive the bishops could be. "

A lengthy and thoughtful article by Tom Doyle posted on the website of the Association of the Rights of Catholics in the Church.

For a comprehensive overview of the saga of dealing with clerical sex abuse of minors in the United States see Mortal Sins by Michael D’Antonio.