What has happened to the priest image in the twenty-first century? Are there no more decent, morally righteous, God-fearing men in the priesthood? When a Cardinal pushes something as corrosive as sexual misconduct with children under the proverbial rug to avoid scandal, he is no longer competent to hold his position in the church.

This is exactly what has happened in Boston. Cardinal Law, of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, has been hiding the sexual exploits of Rev. Paul Shanley for over 30 years.

Church officials were first warned about Father Shanley in 1967 when another priest informed them that Shanley had taken three boys to a cabin in the woods. The church decided to ignore it.

It sounds crazy – how can a nurturing institution allow something so evil to go on in its own backyard? And it gets worse. In 1977, Shanley, who was in charge of a youth program, spoke out in defense of pedophilia.

Someone in the audience heard Shanley and wrote a letter to the archdiocese. In the letter Shanley is quoted: “The adult is not the seducer- the ‘kid’ is the seducer, and further, the kid is not traumatized by the act per se, the kid is traumatized when police and authorities ‘drag’ the kid in for questioning,” he said.

Cardinal Medeiros (Cardinal Law’s predecessor) heard of Shanley’s involvement in the North American Man-Boy Love Association in 1979 and moved him to another area.

Cardinal Law was warned four times in the 1980s about Father Shanley’s conduct but did nothing except transfer him to California in 1989 praising his “impressive record.” California officials removed Shanley in 1993 when the Boston archdiocese finally told them about his past.

Shanley was still allowed to go to Leo House in New York in 1995. The church saw nothing wrong with this because they believed he was under supervision and had “little opportunity to be with children.”

Where does it end? This is a scandal that the church will have to address properly. The Boston Globe and others in the media have called for Cardinal Law’s resignation.

I think that’s only fair, especsally since the Cardinal is also accused of moving around former priest John Geoghan, who was accused of molesting more than 130 children in his 30 years of service.

The only reason we know as much as we do about all of this anyway is because of legal proceedings. The Boston archdiocese was forced to turn over incriminating letters. And then it exploded: priests from all over the nation and the world are either being arrested or investigated for sexual misconduct.