Not just those who get caught. All the pedophiles. And not just the pedophiles. All those clergy who covered up for them. If they all go quietly, they can stay in the church as laity. But no official title or duties whatsoever. Ever again.

I gather that the Catholic Church has a thing about kicking people out entirely. They think that if you're not given communion in the right church, you go to Hell, or something like that. This would make anyone with a shred of human decency hesitant to excommunicate anyone, under any circumstances. They might need to junk this particular doctrine, since it's getting in the way of accountability. At some point you have to able to say to anyone who asks: they are not us, and what they do is not what we do. Otherwise, it just looks bad.

The credibility of a venerable religious institution is at stake. The Catholic Church needs to disassociate itself from these two things: the molestation, and the coverup. Make it clear to the world that this is *not* any part what they're all about. Because right now that's not clear at all.

They've got a real problem here. At this rate, only Jocelyn Elders will want to be Catholic.

If just kicking them out of the priesthood works, then fine. But if not, then they'd better bite the bullet.

Supposedly the Pope is really upset about all this, and he's demanding that this sort of thing be reported to him from now on. I don't think that'll do it. It's like demanding a suspect corporation or government turn over all documents. You probably won't know they haven't complied until it's too late.