This is a Holy Week like no other for American Catholics. Amid the rituals of reflection and rebirth lies a devastating scandal of clerical and official coverup.

A string of disturbing anecdotes that has ruined lives across the country is unsettling enough. But the overall scandal shows another dimension: church leaders dodging their duties to investigate serious charges and discipline predatory priests.

Secretiveness won out over public concern. Tens of millions of dollars in hush money was paid in confidential settlements, draining funds from worthy causes. The church's leadership guarded its power through inaction and self-protection.

Religious tradition, such as services leading up to Good Friday tomorrow and Easter Sunday, will survive. But what about the stature of the cardinals and archbishops who lead their dioceses and speak out on public issues and church doctrines?

In Boston, Cardinal Bernard law shuffled a predator priest from parish to parish until the dam broke. Up to $50 million may be paid out to 130 children victimized by the former priest, who is now in jail.

The San Francisco Archdiocese has paid $5.2 million to victims of a pedophile priest. In Santa Rosa and Los Gatos, sexual misconduct followed the same pattern: Sex abuse was concealed by a hierarchy operating as a law unto itself.

There is plenty that can be done to repair the damage. The need to protect victims must not become an excuse to hide the episodes from public knowledge. Many of the abuse cases were quietly settled by payments made in exchange for silence from the young victims and their families.

Law enforcement must be notified when the evidence or personal admission points to a crime. The privacy of the confessional should not be invaded, but church leaders must allow the legal system to investigate serious charges that surface.

Plain talk and professional advice must be used in treating instances of sex abuse. In the past, some church officials reacted to sex abuse with a wishful belief that forgiveness and a fresh start would cure a wayward priest. Better training and screening in seminaries is one improvement that has begun.

San Francisco Archbishop William Levada, who favors more open dealing with sex abuse crimes, defined the challenge this week. "If the shepherds are struck down by sin, of course the sheep will be scattered," he said.

The church has a duty to act, not just for the victims, but for all its members looking for guidance as well as a restoration of their faith in a venerable institution.

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