This American Life did an episode a while back that featured an interview with a monk who was repeatedly assigned the job of helping to cover up sexual abuse perpetrated by priests.

Patrick Wall was a special kind of monk. He was a fixer. The Catholic church sent him to problem parishes where priests had been removed because of scandal. His job was to come in, keep events from going public and smooth things over until a permanent replacement priest was found. But after four different churches in four years, after covering up for pedophiles and adulterers and liars and embezzlers he decided to make a change. Carl Marziali tells his story.

It’s well worth a listen.