The Catholic Church and sexual abuse

From what I gather, just in reading one or two articles and my own knowledge, that the crime seems to be in covering up the abuses. In other words, did they have knowledge and if so, did they do anything about it, did they try and cover it up and not bring the perpetrators to justice. I think they did a lot of covering up and that's why the D.A. is investigating. Here's a latest news clip on the Catholic church:

By David Morgan
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A day after Pope John Paul II branded pedophilia in the church a crime, the Philadelphia district attorney on Wednesday announced a grand jury investigation into alleged sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests.
The probe, one of only a handful of grand jury investigations launched in the United States since the church's latest sex abuse scandal erupted in Boston, will look into allegations against priests as well as any attempted cover-ups by church officials or others, authorities said.

So - the D.A. is looking into the Catholic church as possible partners in crime by covering up the abuses. So, the F., not only covers up the abuses, but their literature actually promotes it, the literature almost suggests that if you can get away with it in private it's ok because in the eyes of God, it's legal.

In the real world, any organization, corporation or outfit that knows of crimes being committed or knows of negligence in any form, they are responsible to investigate and do something about it. In other words, if a secretary feels that she is being hit on by a boss or asked for favors in exchange for her job and she brings it up to management and management doesn't do anything about it and the abuse goes on unchecked, then they are legally liable for sexual harassment by their employee.

What cracks me up about this article is that it took this long for the Pope to come out and say that pedophilia is a crime. Gee, thanks O Holy one. Now, at least, we are informed. Well, he has to say it because now the church has to act on it, like it or not, so it has to be clear in their dogma and their creed. No more excuses from priests and archbishops. Like, "well, we thought he was doing better," or "he went to counselling" - that's a laugh, as if it's that easy to get over that kind of addiction and perversion. What I don't like about religion is that there are many, many creeps that use the cloak of religion to cover up their nasty deeds. They figure that Christians have to be loving and forgiving so they can just confess, ask for forgiveness and everyone will go on. Hmm...almost reminds me of some things going on of late. Back to the point, they also think that no one will suspect them if they are wearing holy garb. I think this is a real danger in organized religion and people with religious groups need to be a lot more aware of the abuse that goes on under their noses in the guise of religion, any religion.