Editorial: The Catholic priest abuse scandal: Next steps

Sixteen years into the scandal of clergy sex abuse within the Roman Catholic Church, the horrors of these crimes still shock and disgust Americans. The exploitation of children, adolescents and adults by authority figures they had been taught to trust is reprehensible. We've written often of the lax, arguably criminal behavior of some local bishops and other church officials who shrouded grave misconduct in secrecy and didn't share reports of abuses with civil authorities.

In August a report from Pennsylvania's attorney general