Irish and America Parallels - Will the Irish Demand Accountability?

In the wake of the sex abuse scandal that exploded in the USA back in 2002, other than Cardinal Law few if any bishops and others involved in the cover up of sexual abuse by priest suffered any real consequences. Other than lame, insincere apologies, NO ONE was punished. For those who have forgotten the magnitude of the problem, highlights from a post at PHB are a good reminder:
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According to a report by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, over 11,000 allegations of child and adolescent sex abuse have been made against nearly 5,000 priests in the United States between 1950 and 2002. That's only the reported cases. Cardinal Roger Mahoney of the Los Angeles Archdiocese knew he had pedophile priests in his charge, but didn't think that sexual urges towards children should disqualify someone from the priesthood. The L.A. Archdiocese spent $2 million per month on lawyers whose sole job was to block release of information about pedophile priests to law enforcement. In July of 2007 a record-breaking 508 victims who were abused by priests in California were awarded a $660 million settlement. The Boston Archdiocese, under Cardinal Bernard Law, has been forced to pay $157 million settlement to victims of its priests. Cardinal Law resigned as Archbishop of Boston in 2002, and was brought back to Rome, where he is currently being protected from extradition to the United States to face charges of criminal negligence in his willful complicity in covering up known pedophile priests in his charge. And now, the Diocese of Wilmington, Delware, is pleading in bankruptcy court that it is obligated to pay pensions and healthcare coverage to known pedophile priests.
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Some two thirds of U.S. bishops were involved in cover ups involving predator priests. This is the institution that believes it has the moral authority to call gays "inherently disordered" and to allege that same sex marriage threatens society? This institution needs to be punished severely and ought to be shunned by ALL public policy makers. As the bombshells continue to explode in Ireland over the abuse reports now being released, it will be interesting to see if the Irish have the guts and moral fiber to do what Americans did not: DEMAND THAT THOSE GUILTY OF COVER UPS BE EXPELLED FROM OFFICE. I can only hope that (1) the Irish show more courage that American Catholics and (2) that the media in the USA start covering the scandal in Ireland. Here are some highlights from the Irish Times:

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Pressure on the five bishops who still hold office and whose handling of clerical child sex abuse was addressed by the Dublin diocesan report increased throughout yesterday. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said all bishops implicated in the report should resign immediately. He said those who were in positions of authority in Dublin archdiocese, and who knew what was going on, should no longer continue in such positions. “This is another appalling litany of shame. Apologies here are not good enough,” he said.

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The relevant bishops are the Bishop of Limerick, Donal Murray, whose handling of a particular allegation was described as “inexcusable” in the report; Bishop Jim Moriarty of Kildare Leighlin diocese; Bishop Martin Drennan of Galway diocese; and the two Dublin auxiliary bishops, Bishop Ray Field and Bishop Éamonn Walsh.
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Meanwhile, the good bishops in Ireland are arguing against a nationwide investigation - and I suspect we all know why. The Diocese of Dublin likely mirrors what has gone on all across Ireland just as abuse extended all over the USA. Only the full light of day and a complete accounting of all of the Church's sins will end the evil influence of these pompous, morally bankrupt members of the Church hierarchy.