One of the more intriguing sentences, to me, in the Boston Globe's original coverage of what has become the massive scandal of abusive behavior by Catholic priests, and the coverups by their superiors, was this quote from a 1985 internal church memo:

Our dependence in the past on Roman Catholic judges and attorneys protecting the Diocese and clerics is GONE.

What I found intriguing was the implication that there was a time when the church could rely on Catholic judges and prosecutors to violate their oaths of office if it meant protecting the church.

Well, it seems the author of that memo may have been a bit pessimistic. It turns out now that the Boston archdicoese was able to lean on prosecutors to get prosecutions squelched at least as late as 1988...