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I just got a hold of this article and am baffled, by the emphasis of both the article and the comments on two fronts. 1. The concern about whether the offenders are gay or not. Who Cares? Why do you care? Whether they are gay or not is irrelevant, They abused Children. That is the main issue. The priest's own sexual identity issues are another whole issue. This twisted attempt to tie the two together seems to obfusate the effect on the victims and concentrate on the ancillary issue of the perpetrator's sexual identity. I think that if you want to write an article about the problem of homosexuality in the priesthood then write one, but to criticize a report on sexual abuse of children because it doesn't talk enough about the homosexual priest problem, this is just non-sensical and almost totally irrational thought. 2. What is this talk about cover-ups, secret agenda's, white-washing, etc.? What Planet are you on folks? The Catholic Church has done more to prevent the sexual abuse of children throughout the last seventy years than almost any other public organization that works with children (probably longer). Most of the cases that were brought forward for prosecution are a result of Church's own records for crying out loud! I hate to be so blunt and harsh, but the ignorance, or maliciousness of such assertions are just astounding. Mistakes were made, no doubt, but we know of them because there are records. The records are not "swept under the rug", hidden., etc. To somehow imply that this report is not an attempt to better understand what the situation was, is just beyond absurd. I don't think that people understand that this report highlights a fact that has been little reported. There never was, or definitely is there any "Church Sexual abuse crisis". Even at it worst (the '60's and '70's) the abuse of children were still at levels lower than the society at a whole. Of course, at present, the Catholic Church can report that it is one of the safest places to have your children, by far. The "crisis", if you want to call it that, was purely internal. The Church had a significant spike of abuse during the 1960-1985 period relatively speaking. However, an all "A" Student getting a few "C"'s is not a public crisis. I am not trying to down play the effect that this has had on the victims, in fact, just the opposite. All this focus on the failings of one of the best institution that works with Children takes away attention from institutions that have similar to worse problems like public schools, boy scouts, other Churches, etc. None of which have the protection measures that the Church has taken. I think that problem of child sex abuse will be better served if we quit worrying about the leaky kitchen faucet, while the whole rest of the house is burning. - Scott H.