It might not be condoned, but the Catholic Church didn't do much about the problem, either. Priests guilty of child molestation, regardless of their rank, should be jailed for the rest of their lives. The Church itself should be pushing for this to happen. Instead, they adopted a limp-wristed "three tykes and you're out" policy, and just transferred several repeat offenders to different districts.
Catholics who have a conscience should express their disapproval by leaving the church. Otherwise, tacit approval is still approval.
I have a conscience but I have no plans for leaving the church. You're basically making a blanket statement that if all Catholics don't give up on their faith because of these sickening occurances we're giving a big thumbs up for child molsetation which is ludicrous. Do Jews who stay Jews despite the ravings of Meir Kahane deserve to be slapped as bigots? Should Baptists switch churches if they don't agree with Pat Robertson saying that "The Antichrist is probably a Jew alive in Israel today"? I despise the idea that many of these priests got a slap on the wrist or just transfers for what they did, but that won't mean I'm giving up on my faith because some bishops were more impotent than they should have been.
If my church closeted a child rapist...I would leave forever....
Why wouldnt you? Do you honestly believe God would rather you stay with an organized church that has caused so many heinous acts, or pray and worship elsewhere or alone?