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	Commentary: Loyalty Must End When Any Abuse Begins By Colleen Carroll Campbell Town Talk November 18, 2011 http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20111119/OPINION/111190322 The story related in the Pennsylvania grand jury report had all the ingredients of a classic sex abuse scandal: a popular, successful authority figure suspected for years of molesting boys, a host of higher-ups unwilling to report him to police and a trail of children left to suffer unspeakable violations while powerful adults looked the other way. That stomach-churning pattern is sadly familiar to Catholics. For nearly a decade, Catholics have watched their church's reputation damaged, thanks to a mix of predatory priests and negligent bishops who enabled their abuse. Some have blamed the secular media for unfairly picking on the Catholic Church by scrutinizing priests and bishops more than other authority figures accused of similar offenses. That argument, even if valid, misses the point: When it comes to child abuse, every adult with knowledge of an abusive situation has a moral responsibility to act. Adults in positions of esteem and authority, such as religious leaders, bear this responsibility all the more. The Penn State case illustrates that truth. According to the grand jury report, Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky spent years using his reputation as a celebrated football coach and community do-gooder to sexually prey upon boys. Witnesses came across Sandusky in compromising positions with boys and either ignored his behavior or reported it to university officials instead of police. In the most egregious case in the report, a 28-year-old graduate assistant found Sandusky, in 2002, raping a 10-year-old boy in a football building shower stall. The assistant left the scene and called his father, who advised him to tell head coach Joe Paterno, who told Athletics Director Tim Curley, who heard the assistant's testimony along with Gary Schultz, the university's senior vice president for finance and business. Curley then told university President Graham B. Spanier. No one told police. This did nothing to stop Sandusky, who remained free to abuse boys for nearly 10 more years. On Nov. 2, Sandusky was arrested and charged with 40 counts involving eight boys, and Curley and Schultz were charged with perjury and child endangerment. The scandal is another reminder that when it comes to the problem of sexual crimes against children, an in-house solution is no solution at all. Predators thrive in environments where cowardice or concern for appearances trump a commitment to justice. The story always ends the same sad, sordid way, with a final revelation of the truth that shatters a community's trust and leaves an entire institution tarnished in its wake. If the Catholic Church's experience can offer any lesson for others, it is this: Genuine love for and loyalty to an institution never demands the sacrifice of a child's safety or innocence. Catholics tempted to deny this fact should consider the remarks made last week by the Vatican's chief sex abuse investigator, who argued at a conference on children's rights that Catholic parents have a "right and duty" to report child sexual abuse to the authorities and should not allow "ill-informed or misplaced considerations of loyalty" to the church to prevent them from doing so. The same goes for loyalty to a football program, a Boy Scout troop or a beloved school. Authentic love and loyalty always must be grounded in truth and justice. And when it comes to the sexual abuse of children, there is only one just response: tell the police, and let the truth lead where it will.
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