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Severe, inexcusable lapses in judgment - and a clear failure to prioritize the welfare of children -- have occurred in the Roman Catholic Church over a period of generations. Pressure from parishioners and the public has forced the church to reveal the names of many predator priests responsible for molesting children and sometimes, adults.
Yet, except in rare, isolated situations, transparency regarding their enablers has been missing.
A civil lawsuit filed by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey may reveal at least some of the names of those in the church hierarchy who failed to act decisively to halt the abuses.
Morrisey has filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, after an investigation that began last fall. The suit alleges the diocese and former Bishop Michael J. Bransfield "knowingly employed pedophiles and failed to conduct adequate background checks for those working at the Diocese's schools and camps ..."
Morrisey's office explained the issue is being pursued as a civil matter because the attorney general's office lacks the authority to conduct criminal prosecutions.
In a press release announcing the lawsuit, Morrisey's office names some priests who worked in this area. Among them are Father Patrick Condron and Father Victor Frobus.
Condron was ordered to undergo treatment after admitting he sexually abused a student in Vienna, W.Va. Then, he was assigned to Wheeling Catholic Elementary School from 1998-2001 -- but parents of children there were never informed of Condron's record, the lawsuit alleges.
Frobus was ordained as a priest in West Virginia despite church officials' knowledge of a prior "credible sex abuse accusation" against him in Philadelphia. He was named director of a church camp at Huttonsville, accused of abuse there, and ordered to get treatment. Afterward, he was sent to Wheeling Central Catholic High School. He died in 1993, after serving prison time for sexually abusing children in Missouri.
Those facts are known by many people, as a result of a report released by the diocese itself.
But the identities of those in the church who put Condron and Frobus in contact with local children after it was made clear they were pedophiles have not been released. In some ways, their guilt is enormous.
Perhaps Morrisey's lawsuit will shine a light on that aspect of sexual abuse of children by predator priests who were enabled by their superiors.
That type of light has been unacceptably dim for too long. It is time to increase the wattage.