How many organizations? I would say hundreds, probably thousands. Of course, not all organizations are centrally located/controlled like the Catholic Church, so their effectiveness varied. But any institution, religious or secular, when faced with a crisis of that nature, seems to instinctively go into CYA mode. I'm not just talking about the tabloidish cases, like Hollywood embracing Roman Polanski as being a misunderstood individual.
Why do I say this? Simple, look at the data. Here's an example: In New York, there was, until a few years ago, an "Incest Loophole" in the laws. Essentially, it boiled down to this: You abuse your neighbor's daughter, you're a sexual fiend who needs to go to prison. If you abuse your own, you're just a troubled person in need of help. Parents who abused their children were given the ability to plea down to "incest," which is a very different crime than sexual abuse. They often received no prison time, mandatory counseling and, how's this for justice, would at times be allowed to maintain custody of their children, provided they sought "help."
There are still states that have such exemptions.
There was also the report, in the New York Times, that conservative rag, which noted that some public schools in New York were doing, basically, what the Catholic Church was doing when it found its employees abusing the minors in their care: Covering it up, transferring the adults and not bothering to tell anyone in the new school why. The Los Angeles PSS has had similar "problems."
We, as a culture, do not protect our young. The Catholic Church scandal should have served as a reminder, but I encounter far too many people who seem to think it unique.
And clearly you missed the ending of my post, where I insist that their behavior is not excused simply because it's not at all uncommon. I hate to repeat myself, but it seems I must: I'm not defending, remotely, the actions taken by the Church in these matters, but the issue is far far larger than most people seem to be aware.
So, to rephrase your comments, I realize many people don't truly care about the victims of child abuse, but merely allow their intense prejudice towards religious institutions to feign concern and distress over such issues when it involves those groups.
That's about as accurate a description of you as your comments were of me. You want to talk to me? Fine, talk to me, not some amalgam of the pathetic apologists that have popped up in the wake of scandal.
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