Maybe those thanks were with relief, and his real service was leaving the priesthood, and they hoped they would never hear from, of, or about him again.

I know this really elicits a gut reaction from me, but it just seems so obvious the hierarchy still doesn't get the sewer depths of this scandal, and what it's continuing to cost, and not just financially.  The wounded souls of the abused and the ones who love them.  The ones who have walked away in disgust.  The lost integrity of a Church that should be a moral light to the world, but whose leaders (and many followers) cannot be trusted.  The pain of those who still believe in a good God, who have to face the reality that the leaders of that Church have failed, and face the world that, with reason, jeers and disregards, and they have no justification against it.