[SWTXBelle]

Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales is hard on the clergy - (to use an example that I, an English scholar, am familiar with) but I'd never use it to try and prove a historical fact. There is an entire genre, if you will, of anti-Catholic hyperbole, but if it is fiction, it's, well, fiction.
Abuses by most political entities, from ancient Rome to today's administration, will usually be outed - and non-fiction sources, while of course not 100% reliable (one does have to look out for propaganda) is a bit more convincing.
I don't have a dog in this fight, but if you wish to make a startling assertion you do have to expect that people are going to ask for supporting documents.
Oh, and the federal Department of Education does indeed oversee all of public schooling. Just look at all the states who HATE No Child Left Behind, but are stuck with it. I'm not saying that they control the handling of child abuse cases, but it's not a smoke screen. I was pointing out that today, your child would be far more likely to be abused by a teacher or coach than a priest. It's going to be hard to get any statistics for very long ago, I know.
Back to the subject at hand; now there is a great deal of criticism leveled to the state of Texas for not acting sooner. Apparently there has been a "source" for some time, but CPS could not act without an actual complaint. The 16 year old who made the initial complaint(s) has not been found, and is believed to have been taken away to another sect location.