CSotD: It’s funny ‘coz it’s true!
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Matt Bors had this one ready to roll out as soon as the verdict came in last night, and the Lord's sideline glance is worth the whole piece. But Bors immediately caught flak on Facebook for the comparison.
No, not from the Penn State alums. Which leads to my first observation, which is that commentators kept noting that there were a lot of Penn State alums on the jury, but I didn't hear them go any farther and it was never clear to me what they thought the impact of that would be.
Granted, there were demonstrations the night Coach Paterno was forced to step down, but they were quickly countered in the days that followed, as facts began to emerge but mostly as the people who had stayed in their dorms rather than going out to demonstrate realized that silence implies consent.
If I were Jerry Sandusky, I'd have much rather faced a jury of Pitt or Ohio State alums.
I say this as the great-nephew of a wise, kind and wonderful priest, and of two equally gifted nuns.
Such bonds might prejudice a juror in your favor, I suppose, but I suspect they'd be more likely to provoke the fury of betrayal, and I know I could not sit in dispassionate judgment in a case that drew upon those associations.
I become furious with pedophile priests, not because I think all priests are pedophiles but because I know damn well they aren't.
As for those who were flaying Bors for bringing in the clerical parallel, I would note that the parallel was not only apt but timely: On the day Sandusky was found guilty, the news was reporting on the conviction of Monsignor William Lynn on charges of playing "Pass-the-Trash" in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
It's either been a good week for Pennsylvania or a bad one, but I'd tend to say a very good one.
I was living close to Canada when the scandal at the Mount Cashel orphanage broke, revealing a world in which young boys sent to the Christian Brothers either because their parents were unable to support them or as an alternative to prosecution for petty crime were subject to physical and sexual abuse.
The fact that they were "bad" to begin with, combined with the loyalty many St. John's authorities had to the Church, meant they were not listened to. But one of the early breaks in this conspiracy of silence came when a victim of Mt. Cashel, then living in Vancouver, saw a report on "60 Minutes" of a Catholic diocese in Louisiana being accused of transfering pedophiles rather than confronting them.
Emboldened by the action taking place there, he stepped forward. And, as more of these scandals began to emerge, more victims began to step forward: At Canada's residential schools for Indians, at Ireland's Magdalene Laundries, and at parish after parish.
As more victims stand up, as more people in authority begin to listen, more victims come forward and, if it upsets those who insist on a fantasy version of a perfect world, we draw closer to that imaginary world each time another victim is made whole.
Of course, they can never be made fully whole, and the world can never be made fully perfect. But man's reach should exceed his grasp or, indeed, what is heaven for?
I know who it's not for.
If I had one criticism of Matt's cartoon it's that there is too little exaggeration in it. "Pass-the-Trash" has been a hallmark of sexual abuse in schools as well as in the Church, and the parallel is real, not imagined.
I was party to a conversation in the mid-90s, in which a late-70s alumna of a small high school was comparing notes with a recent graduate of that same school, talking about what teachers were still there and chatting about the ones they had in common. When they came to one particular teacher, the elder asked if he was still having sex with students and the younger one confirmed it, in a tone as matter of fact and casual as if she had asked if he still wore argyle socks.
As a reporter, I did a little poking around and asked a senior at the school if he could confirm that this sort of thing went on. He could, but, since I'd been careful not to ask a leading question, he offered a completely different example.
I called a kid from a nearby school. She provided an example from her school. I checked with another, and he had an example from his school.
And, when the one who had sparked all this was finally caught, he was permitted to resign and find another job at a distant school.
Hence "Pass-the-Trash," a practice so common in schools that there's a cynical term for it.
We should not need judges, courtrooms and juries to keep this from happening.
We not only need them, but we need them to do their jobs. This time they did.
Though I find a lot of appeal in Christopher Titus's suggestion of how the Church might better handle these things itself. (Get the kids out of the room before clicking on that.)
Joni Mitchell's take on the issue is more compassionate, but no less furious at the betrayal.
I wouldn't want either of them on my jury.
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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