UNITED STATES
Ventura County Star
By Martin Schram
Posted June 26, 2012
Like planets and stars, two huge news masses with much in common hurtled for years through their independent orbits until — in a happening far more rare than a lunar eclipse — they unpredictably came into perfect alignment last Friday.
In the same news cycle on the same day in the same state, two juries announced two guilty verdicts in two totally unrelated court cases that were both rooted in the same shameful subject: the sexual abuse of children by trusted iconic figures of institutional authority.
One case was the focus of monumental news coverage, and it may be the only verdict you really know about: Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State University assistant football coach and founder of a celebrated program helping disadvantaged boys, was convicted of 45 counts of sexually abusing 10 boys.
But it was the other case that was of truly monumental significance, historically, legally, culturally and ecclesiastically. For the first time in the United States, a senior official of the Roman Catholic Church was convicted of covering up sexual abuses by priests he supervised.
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