The priest-sex parallels are getting harder and harder to ignore.
A revered figure is suspected of abusing children. As the victims pile up and the evidence mounts, the institution responds abysmally. Instead of protecting the vulnerable and calling the cops, people in power shield themselves and look the other way. Only years later, to the shame of everyone, does the truth finally come out.
Are we in State College, Penn.– or Catholic dioceses across America? We could be in either one, the latest reports suggest.
Former Penn State Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky, once the heir apparent to college-football legend Joe Paterno, now stands indicted on felony sex-abuse charges, accused of molesting boys he got to know through his Second Mile children’s charity. Amid a growing furor over who knew what and when, Paterno’s been ousted as has university President Graham Spanier.
Who’ll be the first to call the long-beloved, suddenly former head coach, Bishop Paterno?
If the priest-sex scandal is any indication, this college campus sordid drama is nowhere close to done. Other victims will step slowly forward, as they rev 
up the courage to describe what happened to them. Over time, the evidence will show exactly what those in authority knew or had reason to know. According to the Pennsylvania grand jury, at least eight Penn State adults either witnessed the abuse or were told of it. And yet no one blew the whistle, not until one long-ago victim finally did.
And one more time: Those who thought they were protecting a sacred institution had done it irreparable harm.
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