The tragic events at Pennsylvania State University that have finally come to light in the past week are causing a detour on the train this week.
I know a lot of people who attended Penn State. I know a lot of people who bleed dark blue and white. I know a lot of people who are broken-hearted over what has happened.
The reality, and I think Chris Fowler on ESPN said it best, is that the trustees at the university had zero choice in the actions they took yesterday to dismiss the iconic Joe Paterno, the athletic director, and the university president. The justifiable outrage over the allegations was enough to seal their fates. Should they prove true, one can only imagine the ongoing damage, both in reputation and fiscally, this will be for Penn State.
But the train isn't detouring to reflect on what other people are saying, it's detouring to offer a perspective. Can anyone else name an institution that has had this problem of pedophiles ongoing abhorrent behavior being tacitly allowed by non-reporting to civic authorities? I sure can. Now I would ask you to think about the faith histories of the men involved in this situation at Penn State.
It is a safe bet that the men that were involved in this are all practicing Roman Catholics. And the Church has modeled the behavior all of them followed for centuries. It allowed a pedophile to continue molesting children, people who knew didn't stop it, and didn't report it to the police. It is my belief, right or wrong, that the men who did not report this abuse to the police acted EXACTLY like their pastors and bishops have acted over the years. And that, my friends, is very sad.
Because the problem isn't pedophilia. It happens. I can't understand it, nor do I condone it. But it is a psychological illness. The problem is in the non reporting of the actions when they occur. Because in the non reporting is the tacit acceptance of the behavior. And that not only makes me sad, it makes me sick. The fact that someone saw an abusor "in action", did nothing to stop it (which I am still struggling with, as I yell at people for littering), told his boss, who told his boss, who told his boss, and all along that line, NOBODY DID ANYTHING.
It is my hope that the entire country, and to some degree even the Church, learns something from this and does not accept non reporting of abusive acts on children. We can't accept that as a society.
The worst part of it, from my perspective, as someone who has absolutely no connection to Penn State, is that some of this "outrage" is being directed at the victims. These were kids who did nothing wrong, were taken advantage of, were not taken care of in any kind of meaningful way, and now have some blame coming at them for something they have absolutely no control over.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot about the way that this country - and folk in general - works that I just can't understand.