Reading Eagle
November 18, 2011
http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=346608
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| John Fidler |
"Foul whisperings are abroad. Unnatural deeds/Do breed unnatural troubles; infected minds/To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets ."
- Shakespeare, "Macbeth," V, i, 35-37
I never thought I'd see an organization out-Catholic Church the Catholic Church.
Never, that is, until these last two weeks, since the 33rd Statewide Investigating Grand Jury charged Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State, with 40 counts of sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years.
From the beginning, the eight boys - now men in their 20s - have taken a back seat to larger, richer, more powerful forces.
Forces such as Graham B. Spanier, Penn State's former president, who said after Sandusky's arrest on Nov. 5 that he had complete confidence in two Penn State administrators charged by the grand jury with perjury and failure to report to authorities what the grand jury said they knew of the allegations.
Forces such as Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, who many believe failed to take decisive action after learning of the alleged abuse by Sandusky. Penn State's trustees fired both men.
Or forces such as money.
ESPN said Penn State's team value is $99 million, and the program makes an annual profit of $50 million.
How can eight boys stack up against the money, the prestige, the power and, most of all, the brand?
They can't.
Nor can the 10,667 children the John Jay College of Criminal Justice said in 2004 were abused by 4,392 Catholic priests hope to stand up to the wealthy, powerful, revered Catholic Church. They are David facing Goliath.
Jonathan Mahler wrote in The New York Times: "The parallels (between Penn State and the Catholic Church) are too striking to ignore. A suspected predator who exploits his position to take advantage of his young charges. The trusting colleagues who don't want to believe it - and so don't.
"Even confronted with convincing proof, they choose to protect their institution's reputation. In the face of a moral imperative to act, there is silence."
The silence of Sandusky's ritual of blowing on Victim 1's abdomen in bed, as described in the grand jury's report.
The silence, as documented in the report, as Sandusky rested his hand on Victim 5's left thigh as they drove in Sandusky's car to one of the 15 football games he attended with Sandusky.
Or the silence of the image of 10-year-old Victim 2's hands up against the wall of a shower on the Penn State campus, as witnessed by then graduate assistant Mike McQueary.
Silence is the lot of the victim, the downtrodden, the dispossessed. Sexual predators rely on their victims' silence. It is their protector, their guarantee of further contact, their salvation. Until someone gives them a voice.
Attorneys Jay Abramowitch and Ken Millman of the Leisawitz Heller law firm in Wyomissing have been the voice for more than 100 people who say they were sexually abused by Catholic priests. About 50 of their cases have been dismissed because the victims didn't file their cases by age 30, which is stipulated in Pennsylvania under its statute of limitations. Other cases await their turn in court.
They have helped David stand up to Goliath.
Millman suggested that the courage of coming forward by the survivors he and Abramowitch represent - even survivors who might never get their day in court - makes it possible for other survivors to come forward.
"They unknowingly aided these (Penn State) kids," Millman said.
Abramowitch was less sanguine.
"I want someone to say that this happened," he said. "I want someone to say they're sorry."
John Fidler is a copy editor and writer at the Reading Eagle. He holds a master's degree in English from the University of Chicago. Contact him at 610-371-5054 or jfidler@readingeagle.com
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