There is a tendency to argue in favor of Roman Catholic practices,

[MineralMan]

54. It can be extraordinarily difficult to examine evidence

when that evidence is carefully concealed by an organization that is not subject to certain laws. That is the source of the problem, really. Eventually, such evidence can come to light, but often decades later. In the meanwhile, the same behavior continues unabated, and is further covered up.

Since we are not allowed to observe what happens behind closed doors, misbehavior, even the most obscene, harmful behavior, often goes unnoticed by outsiders. This is what has occurred in the case of child sexual abuse, and even murder of children by people who are able to conceal their crimes. Consider the Irish Laundry cases. Consider the cases of abuse in Boys Choirs in Europe that occurred over 50 years ago and were not revealed until most of the criminals were already dead.

We can only prosecute crimes of which we are aware. If they can be concealed by a highly secretive religious hierarchy, we might not know of them in time to prevent more crimes from happening behind closed doors. More's the pity, don't you think?