America has never been a Catholic country. But it has always needed the Catholic Church, and it especially does now.

For a country where communities are corroding, party politics is drowning out everything else, and personal morality is increasingly unpopular, institutions that are independent of politics and speak with moral authority are needed more than ever. And the Catholic Church is the single largest such institution in this country.

Unfortunately, at the moment, the leaders of the Catholic Church conspicuously lack that moral authority, because the hierarchy is dodging questions about the conduct of its bishops and the supervision of their clergy. There's no easy fix for this, but the healing begins with an outpouring of candor, a disinfecting dose of sunshine.

Like the Catholic penitent, who must admit to all his serious sins in confession in order to be forgiven, Church leaders must now turn over every stone to show what lies beneath, lest they destroy the institution with which they were entrusted. They must abandon their inappropriate defensive posture and either address head-on the egregious corruption among the clergy they oversee, or step aside for those who will.

Theodore McCarrick was the bishop of Newark and the archbishop of Washington. He was also, according to all accounts, a sexual predator who would use his power within the Church to assault, harass, or seduce young men, especially seminarians. This fact was apparently widely known or at least rumored, yet Church leaders still honored McCarrick and continued to set him loose upon the Church and upon seminarians. Many people had to have known what was going on, yet no one came forward to say, "Wait, don't do that," when schools and other institutions were named in his honor.

The latest report is even more startling. Pope Francis has now been accused of knowing about McCarrick’s behavior from at least June 2013. Despite this, he welcomed the predator into the Vatican’s inner circles and consulted him extensively about which men to appoint as bishops in the United States.

This comes after many charges that Cardinal Donald Wuerl, McCarrick’s successor in Washington, knew at least something about McCarrick’s behavior, yet never took action.

[Related: Pope Francis failed to act after learning of sexual abuse scandal and should step down, ex-Vatican ambassador says]

If this is all true, then it looks like the top Catholic officials in the U.S. and in the world, who could not have been wholly ignorant, were willing to turn a blind eye as a promiscuous, predatory corruptor served as a prince of the Church. Meanwhile, recent stories about rampant homosexual behavior within American seminaries and in the inner circles at the Vatican exacerbate the crisis. They point to a lax and hypocritical moral culture among those charged with setting a moral example.

Add to all this the grand jury report from Pennsylvania, featuring many cases of pedophilia, and many more cases of gay priests preying on young men and teenage boys, and the ecclesiastical leadership looks like a debauched cabal.

A church led by such men cannot expect to be viewed as a moral authority.

Wuerl denies he knew anything about McCarrick. Pope Francis refuses to address the question directly. This obfuscation cannot continue.

Most Catholics believed the worst of these scandals were behind them when, last decade, the topic of sexual abuse was finally brought into the light. Unfortunately, it was not enough. The penitence of some who wear the collar was woefully incomplete, and Church careerists were all too willing to turn a blind eye for the sake of getting along. Dark secrets were held back behind the dam, forming a filthy sewer of hidden sins that becomes more foul with every passing year.

The Catholic laity reacted to the last wave of scandals by deferring to the bishops, counting on their integrity to make things right. That didn't work.

The Vatican and every U.S. bishop must now open the books to an inquest by both clergy and laymen. Who knew what about McCarrick, and when? Who knew what and when about predator priests around the country? Which clergymen are turning the Catholic priesthood into a mockery — not just committing unspeakable crimes against children but also creating a culture that weakens the Church's much-needed voice on matters of morality? And once these Judas priests and bishops are identified, how soon can they all be reported, defrocked, arrested, or forced into retirement, depending upon which remedy is most appropriate in each case?

All that was concealed must now be disclosed; what was spoken in dark rooms must be shouted from the rooftops. At stake is not only the personal healing that must take place, but the future of a vital institution that apparently needs to be saved from its leaders.