The conflicted soul of Cardinal Mahony

There's a story in the NYT this morning about Cardinal Roger Mahony, the now-retired head of Los Angeles' Roman Catholic community. He seems to be a very conflicted character. On the one hand, he was the embodiment of liberal reforms:

In an increasingly conservative Catholic Church, he was known as one of the last relatively progressive prelates, embracing the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and encouraging increased participation of women and laypeople.

But he also hid the crimes of pedophile priests:

Internal church personnel files released this week as part of a civil court case reveal that he and his top adviser knowingly shielded priests accused of child sexual abuse from law enforcement.

Apparently his allegiance to the church was greater than his ability to care for the children of his parishioners. Read the story for more. It made me sad. How can a seemingly good person do things like this? It's as if the children did not exist.