I agree, Frank.  I know that many good people have very different opinions about how much Cardinal O'Malley has contributed to reform.  I thunk he is probably not as good as his admirers think nor as bad as his detractors think. (How's that for straddling the fence?)  But good, bad or indifferent, I think the time has come -- is long past time -- for this work -- the protection of minors -- to be entrusted to members of the laity.  They need to have the institutional power to fire recalcitrant clergy, including the heads of the various curial offices.  Band-aids won't work; it's time for surgery.