Some experts believe that while many seminaries have established policies to protect adults studying to be priests and members of religious communities, seminary culture sometimes remains an obstacle to protecting them from predatory behavior.

During the Saturday evening Mass when Father Looney heard the opening lines of the first reading from Jeremiah, the priest switched gears, deciding he had to say something about sexual abuse allegations against now former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the Vatican's family and laity office, spoke as the U.S. church hierarchy has come under fire from ordinary American Catholics outraged that ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's misconduct with men was apparently an open secret in some U.S. church circles.

Six interrelated reasons for reluctance, based on my own experience.

When allegations first surfaced regarding then-Cardinal McCarrick last month, some church officials called for new regulations and policies that apply to charges of misconduct and mismanagement against bishops. But in his letter, Bishop Scharfenberger said such changes alone will not be enough to address the church’s failings.

Archbishop Wilson of Adelaide is the highest-ranking Catholic bishop to be convicted and sentenced for failure to report a case of abuse.