In a response to the John Jay Report on clergy sexual abuse Sister Mary Ann Walsh demonstrates that some people still don’t get this dark page in the history of the Church.  She works for the UCCB so works for the bishops.  I was perturbed/appalled by the line, ” When it comes to abusers smearing the reputations of dedicated, clean-living clerics, never has so much damage been done by so few.”  It is correct that percentage wise clergy sexual abusers are a small number as compared to all the clergy.  And to her credit Sister Mary Ann Walsh does acknowledge that even a small percentage is unacceptable.  But this scandal goes well beyond the ,”small”, percentage of actual sexual perpetrators.  What about the priests who knew what was going on and did nothing?  What about the bishops who did nothing but try to silence victims and move abusers around?  They are all culpable too so the statement of so few damaging the reputation of so many is inaccurate.  There were many, many members of the clergy that contributed to this, “smearing”, of the reputations of Catholic Clergy not just the sexual abusers themselves.  It is not the fault of the few.  It is also the fault of the many who chose to do nothing holy to stop this mess.  The strategy of containment should not have been the strategy at all.  God brings to the light what happens in the dark.  That is what we are experiencing now.