The priestly life: Crisis and opportunity in the Catholic Church
The scandal of sexual abuse among priests and its institutional cover-up presents the Catholic Church with a staggering crisis. It is a crisis of leadership, of moral credibility, and of trust between parishioners, priests and bishops. It is also a crisis of money, for the church will spend millions of dollars settling liability cases (the estimate of settling past, pending and future cases in just the Boston Archdiocese exceeds $100 million), and the faithful may decide to register their outrage by withholding donations.