My mother, bless her heart, tried to teach me better. She tried to teach me never to be happy at the misfortunes of another. I've tried, FSM knows I've tried.
But there comes a time when the actions of that other, and everything he represents, are so despicable, so very evil, that I just can't prevent myself from cracking a smile when I hear that a Catholic official, a Monsignor, charged with aiding and abetting the child molestation activities of a priest under his supervision, has been sentenced to serve actual, real time in prison!
Now, I'm not going to pretend to be happy at the length of time. It should be longer, much longer. Because of this man, at least one priest continued his activities for years, exposing multiple victims to the kind of depredation no child should endure. There may have been more, but I suppose we should be satisfied with the one we got, given the way the justice system works.
Monsignor William Lynn was his name, and may it live in infamy for the rest of his life. May he hang his head in shame, not only for the terrible things he allowed another man to do to innocent children, but for the way he continued the evil activities his church has visited upon the innocent for, literally, centuries, for the manner in which he not only condoned those activities, but for the way in which he participated in them and perpetuated them.
Do not try to come here and explain away his "sins" by telling me this was the action of one man, or that his activities were not condoned by his superiors. They were - they were not only condoned by those superiors, but were mandated by them, in writing, in the latin those superiors have used for centuries to hide their crimes and their perfidy from prying eyes. Mandated, in fact, by the very man who sits in Rome in his spotless white robes, pretending to know the mind of his sky fairy god and calls himself Pope, and pretends to be a moral example and counselor for the world's Catholic faithful.
These actions were the policy - the written policy - of the Catholic hierarchy, by choice, to avoid scandal from touching the church rather than protecting the innocents who depended on them for protection. Protection which was never extended or provided.
I am sorry if my words offend, or if they anger.
But your offense and anger should be directed towards those who molest children, and toward those who enable that molestation by hiding and covering that molestation from the eyes of the world. Not toward those who would expose that coverup, or those like me, who would spread the news.
Today, another man is on trial, who is accused of molesting children, for decades, at Penn State, under cover of his employment as an athletic official at that school.
May this conviction and sentencing be a warning to those at Penn State who enabled Sandusky's activities by failing to stop him, whose guilt is separated from Monsignor William Lynn's (and that of his superiors) only by dint of scale.
May it be a warning to those who supervise other people who have access to children, those who have the power to stop these kinds of crimes from happening, or who can stop further crimes by reporting them to the proper authorities.
Be warned - society will no longer just nod and wink at your perfidy, at your crimes.
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