Religion & Law

Rob asks, with respect to the Church's possible "blind spots", whether "abuse cases have turned out differently if women were part of the conversation".  I do not know.  But, the shocking evidence of the extent of the sexual abuse of children in public schools -- abuse that tends to be pushed under the rug, underexplored by the press and the bar, and mishandled by self-protecting, powerful institutions, in which women do play important decision-making roles -- seems relevant (in a disappointing way).  Also relevant, perhaps, is the fact that, today -- given the responses of Bishops, diocesan officials, pastors, and lay people to the abuse-revelations -- the Catholic Church is, as George Weigel observed recently, "by empirical measure, the safest environment for young people in America today."  Does this fact reflect, perhaps, the participation of women in developing the response?