For there to be a real scandal, there would have to be open revelation. This would require four huge things to happen. A child would have to tell a parent – what language would any child have to speak of this? The parent would have to make a formal complaint to the police – what parent would call down such shame on the family? The Gardaí would have to actually investigate the crime – was it not better to inform the Archbishop and let him ‘take over the case’? The state would have to launch a prosecution – and the state believed, as the church did, that such a thing would cause too much
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