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"Once the sale is made, shut up.” That's a fundamental rule of sales that is taught to virtually every aspiring sales person.

Ten years ago tomorrow, Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as head of the Boston Archdiocese after mountains of evidence proved that he repeatedly protected predators, deceived parishes and endangered kids.

Ten years ago, a Boston Globe series put the Catholic abuse and cover up crisis on the front pages of newspapers across the globe. 

Watch closely the language that Catholic officials use when they try to distance themselves from accused clerics. 

Bishops recruit, educate, train, ordain, hire, supervise, and often transfer and protect predator priests. But once allegations surface, top church staff often pretend they’ve never even met the accused. In many church notices, he was “Fr. Smith” on Tuesday, but suddenly, on Wednesday, became “Smith” or “Mr. Smith” the minute child sex abuse allegations arose.

Could there be a more shrewd way for child molesting clerics to avoid getting caught than this: legally changing their names? 

SNAP was invited to testify before the Royal Commission into Sex Abuse convened by Prime Minister Julia Gillard. SNAP President and Founder Barbara Blaine made the 28 hour trip and our Australian leaders Nicky Davis and Mark Fabro all testified not only to their own experiences but also to the scope of the abuse and cover-up by church officials.

A Baptist minister, John Langworthy, faces charges in Mississippi of "gratification of lust." He is accused of molesting at least five kids. 

A grant writer, Margaret Mata had a good job finding funding for the Kansas City diocese. Then she learned that diocesan officials were not telling the truth about the Fr. Shawn Ratigan child porn and cover-up case. 

Yesterday, SNAP stood with over a dozen clergy abuse survivors in Kansas City, who had been part of a large settlement with the diocese in 2008. What makes this event so unusual is that these peope had included 19 non-economic conditions as part of their settlement. In just three short years, officials have violated at least six of those promises over twenty times. 

Recently, a friend and supporter sent me a link to Holy Watergate in German. If you're unaware of Holy Watergate, it's a documentary by powerful film-maker Mary Healey who tracks the horrific stories of five victims from their life before abuse to what it is like today. It examines nineteen years of cover-up and criminality from the church across the country and is a very well made testament to how the clergy abuse crisis has been handled. Below is the link to the film, available in its entirety in German. Part 1 is also available in English.