FEATURED JOBS
Does anyone think this will be a teachable moment?
When some Catholic priests were accused of sexual molestation of minors, we initially had denial, denial, denial from them and the Church. We now know that some of those priests sexually assaulted scores of innocent children and, instead of being criminally prosecuted, they were moved from parish to parish under the watchful eye of the Catholic Church.
Rather then confront the horrible problem, the Church chose to cover it up while thousands of boys and girls had their lives ruined.
Here in Baltimore, over the decades several rabbis molested young boys in their charge while some supervisors apparently knew about it. Just like in the Catholic Church. Even today, an alleged predator lives on campus at a Jewish boys’ school. The popular Rabbi Jacob A. Max, who died this past summer, was said to be inappropriate with dozens of women over the years as so many looked the other way, allowing these women’s lives to be destroyed forever. Of course, that began to change with his conviction a few years ago.
Sadly, it appears that Penn State University hired the same PR firm as those mentioned above: deny, don’t apologize or fix. Finally, after a tsunami of negative PR swept over the school, the president and legendary head coach were fired. I expect more is coming.
If anything good can come out of this awful Penn State experience, I hope that it’s fast and unwavering action to stop sexual predators. Coach Joe Paterno’s final words as Nittney Lions head coach was, “I wish I had done more.” That’s a sad, sad legacy to a great career – but a legacy for which he alone is responsible.
Yes, Joe, we, too, which you had done more. So do the victims and their families.
I pray that this is the spark that ignites change in our world, a change that demands, “I don’t care about the value of this church, synagogue or football program more than I do for our kids! I’m going to stand up and protect our children.”
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