Hopefully, we can finally learn from the past

IN the heat and outrage triggered by the publication of the Report on the Abuse of Children in Catholic Institutions, there needs to be some reality check.

There is no denying or mitigating the brutality and cruelty visited on these unfortunate children but there must be some sense that these are manifestations of an equally flawed and degenerate society. What we have uncovered in the religious institutions is the ugly, visible, above water view of a far greater and more pervasive moral sickness.

It is comforting to project evil away from ourselves and the society we were during the decades when these crimes against the innocent and helpless were committed. Yet these institutions existed because children were sent to them by families, government agencies and court judges. They were expected to care for these children without adequate resources and with little or no supervision. The case for accountability cannot be confined to the religious orders alone or arguably in the main.