Putting our own house in order

We often speak of the need to put our own house in order and there is a very similar expression in German as you can see from this quote from sueddeutsche.de

Die Kirche solle jetzt "nicht mit dem Finger auf andere zeigen, sondern wir sollen unser eigenes Haus in Ordnung bringen, und dann können es andere auch tun"

This extract comes from a report  about what the Bishop of Regensburg is supposed to have said in a sermon at the weekend in connection with the child abuse scandal that has been deeply disturbing news for the German public and for the Roman Catholic Church. Over the years churches, regardless of denomination, have had to face unwelcome truths about their failures to safeguard children in the past. The procedures now in place will hopefully reduce abuse but the responses to revelations or allegations about what has happened in the past are still too often hedged about with defensiveness that suggests not all church leaders are committed to the openness that is needed to really change their internal culture. When they really don't 'get it' then it must be all too easy to see public and press opinion as eine Kampagne gegen die Kirche