Bro,
In thinking about the scandal, I can't help but conclude that in handling this scandal as they have, the bishops have and continue to thumb their noses at parents in the church, and in society. The bishops will claim  credit in reducing the number of new cases, but it may be decades before we can figure out whether it was their actions, or something else that drove those numbers down, or for that matter, whether there may not be yet another wave as today's children get older...

I too had high hopes for Francis, O'Malley, and this Commission (and the promised Tribunal before it.)  As my  own kids left the church, one by one, there was precious little I could offer them as to why stay in the institutional church.  That's a far cry from what I can offer them about living a good, spiritual life, seeking goodness.  Can't help but wonder about the future of this institution.

The profound sadness in all of this, is realizing what might have been, what COULD have been, against what is.