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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MP43" data-source="post: 4082229" data-attributes="member: 1631">So I looked up the timeline. Some highlights: The issue first came to widespread public attention when priest Gilbert Gauthe of Lafayette, La., received a 20-year sentence for molesting children. That same year, the National Catholic Register published an exposé and editorial on the sex abuse crisis, which was picked up and widely circulated by mainstream media. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) was founded in 1988, to much fanfare. In June of 1992, the the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops acknowledged that some bishops had attempted to cover up abuse. They also affirmed five principles for dioceses to deal with child sexual abuse, including responding promptly and openly to all allegations. All widely publicized by the media. O'Conner went on SNL in October of 1992. So its not accurate to say it wasn't already a well-known scandal or that nothing was being done about it before her little stunt. And no, I'm not Catholic, I make no excuse for sexual predators, and agree the Catholic Church rightly deserves all the condemnation it has received on this issue. But saying Sinead O'Conner is who brought the matter to the public's attention is like saying no one had heard of global warming before Greta Thunberg came along.</blockquote>