What is up with all the institutionalized child abuse?

I'll be curious to see how extensive this is with the Boy Scouts and how high up it goes. The few dads I know who have been scout leaders are decent types (at least I'd like to think so) and if the Boy Scout troop leaders get a reputation as child molesters because of this, where are kids supposed to go for organized activities and role models?

ETA: I did a search on the Boy Scouts and while surfing I found this:
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_147123...ce=most_viewed

The Pope? THIS Pope? Hum.... Going to be hard, now that his brother, Georg Ratzinger, is in the middle of a huge scandal, accused of being linked to the sexual and physical abuse of choirboys during some of the 30 years he ran the boys' choir in Regensburg, Germany.

From what I have seen it was not during the 30 years Ratzinger was director.
The only thing that Ratzinger has admitted to is that he slapped kids - which was common decades ago the same way that spanking was considered normal.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...1DQPwD9EC09L82

Nowadays smacking a kid's hand with a ruler or spanking a disciplinary measure would probably be considered "physical abuse."

That is not what some boys, who made the accusation, are saying...
Plus, there is a HUUUUUGE difference in between him admitting doing, and what the truth really is. And that only those kids really know.

How about some links regarding those accusations?

Abuse happens in all institutions and in all faiths and gets covered up in each of these. It's simply easier for people to pretend a problem doesn't exist and just shuffle that problem off again and again. Hospitals do it with problem doctors- including that recent one where the guy molested a significant number of his patients. Churches do it in their congregations- whether it's with abuse or rampant infidelity (I could tell you some stories, including one about a church where literally everyone was sleeping with everyone else- wife swapping, swingers parties, etc and this was a big non-Catholic church.) In the SBC church I grew up in (Southern Baptist Convention) I was taught that men cheat on their wives because their wives are bad women and the men can't help themselves and I even heard this on a major SBC radio program about 5 years ago. A local high school covers up serious bullying, one of my high school gym teachers had an affair and later married a cheerleader. A man in my in-law's church seemed like an upstanding citizen, but not really, since he was verbally abusive and controlling to his wife in public- everyone knew this, everyone saw it- then acted surprised when they found out this pervert was raping his daughters. This is a Grace Brethren church. Perverts and sociopaths are drawn towards positions where they will have easy access to children or other people they can dominate. Instituations perpetuate this because most people wish to turn a blind eye to what they are seeing. It just makes everyone a heck of a lot more comfortable. My priest did a series of sermons on abuse, including sexual abuse and spousal abuse. He often preaches on subjects like abuse and infidelity. People have to speak out and not stick our heads in the sand.

easy:
As I said... who knows what is true... I think much will surface from this story just like we saw here in the US a few years ago... I think this is just the beginning.

I agree, there are going to be a lot more stories of sexual and physical abuse in the Catholic church in other countries. The U.S., Ireland and Germany are the tip of the iceberg. It definitely won't be confined to Catholic institutions, either.

It's interesting that it's opened a huge discussion about celibacy in the Catholic church. While I don't see any need for priests or nuns to be celibate, I wonder why some people think removal of that vow will stop pedophiles?

Thanks for the links - I was feeling too lazy to look for ones in English last night. As you can imagine, the German media are really focusing on these revelations/accusations.

Abuse happens in all institutions especially where people (women do it too) are denied normal outlets, like the Catholic Church. prisons, the military, boarding schools etc. But the worst thing is the cover up, where abusers have no fear they will be punished and victims are afraid to speak up because they know nothing will happen. This is the real crime, just as conspiracy to murder is considered a worse crime than actual murder..