Penn State Report Parallels Catholic Church Child Abuse Cover-up
Today the long awaited independent report on child abuse in the football program at Penn State was released. The Philadelphia Inquirer lead story can be found at
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20120712_Report_due_today_on_Penn_State__Sandusky.html. The actual 162 page report itself is located at www.philly.com/freeh.
Several conclusions found in the report could have been written about the more than 50 year cover-up of child abuse in the Catholic Church by its bishops pastors and co-worker priests.
As quoted by the Inquirer –
“Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State,” said former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who led the investigation, “The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized.” [The most powerful leaders in the church also totally disregarded the welfare and safety of children.]
Naming Paterno, former Penn State President Graham B. Spanier, former Athletic Director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, a university vice president once in charge of the campus police, Freeh said they “never demonstrated, through actions or words, any concern for the safety and well-being of Sandusky’s victims until after Sandusky’s arrest.” [Again the only concern for children shown by the church was after its scandal became public in Boston in 2002.]
“Taking into account the available witness statements and evidence, it is more reasonable to conclude that, in order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, the most powerful leaders at Penn State University . . . repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky’s child abuse from the authorities, the Board of Trustees, Penn State community, and the public at large,” Freeh said. [The avoidance of scandal was a primary reason bishops and others failed to act since this would have negatively affected their pocketbooks.]
You can substitute the name of most bishops, pastors and co-worker priests for these secular university officials and conclude that at Penn State an identical pattern was followed of sacrificing children and their safety to avoid bad publicity, despite the fact that sexual monsters roamed devouring children.
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