Penn State has fired legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno in the aftermath of their child sex abuse scandal. Their grand jury report seems to have them responding more swiftly and decisively than the Philadelphia Archdiocese. When children are raped and people don’t react in a moral and ethical way, there should be immediate serious consequences. No institution should put its reputation or employees before the well being of even one child. Penn State gets it – albeit a little late. When will the Philadelphia archdiocese?
Click here to read story: “Penn State fires Joe Paterno and university president,” by John P. Martin, Susan Snyder and Amy Worden, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 10, 2011.
Penn State did the right thing considering the messy situation the Board of Trustees had to deal with. This should be the benchmark for all institutions including the Roman Catholic Church. PennState exhibited moral leadership. What a shame that our church leaders lack the integrity to do the right thing. Lets contine to pressure the Cardinal and the USCCB. It is our right and their responsibility to stand up and be moral leaders.
Seriously. It’s interesting to see how many are up in arms about this. Should we expect less of priests than we should of the average person? But how many Catholics spoke up at their parishes about the sex abuse and cover ups? Since I am one that was, and has been treated like the enemy…even told that no one cared anymore…move on… I find this all very interesting. Joe Paterno hasn’t even been arrested for anything. Yet Lynn remains pastor of a parish? Really?
Everyone please call AND email Rep. Ron Marsico’s office TODAY! A one sentence email saying you support 832 and 878. Call the office and state that you support 832 and 878. Even if you are from outside of PA. still make the call. Tell them the eyes of the nation are on Pa. and these bills must be put on the agenda for hearings. We ALL must work for the protection of children. As adults it is our responsibilty.
Hon. Ron Marisco, Republican Chair, 717-783-2014 ,rmarsico@pahousegop.com
Just made the call.
Thank you Martin. To all who have called and emailed Marsico previously -call and email again TODAY. There is national “buzz” right now about Marsico’s lack of movement on the Bills -they need to hear from everyone. Now is the time.
Sent an e mail, told Marisco he was a national disgrace, and at Pen State there was just ONE molester (bad as that is), but Marisco is holding up legislation that could uncover so many more. In CA, 300 unknown predators were identified with SOL ‘window’.
Just called!! Nice lady who answered the phone. I hope this message gets to him. I stated forcefully that these bills are for the protection of ALL Children.
Kathy, on both fronts, mission accomplished here.
I hope you told them you have “had it” ha!
I totally agree Kathy. The PA governmental officials have failed these horribly abused boys for over a dozen years. Now the PA legislators must move on the stalled bills asap or PA voters should dump them at the upcoming elections, or even sooner by recall elections.
Moreover, Federal politicians must now also prompty enact presently dormant legislation to protect all American children from sexual abuse. Federal politicians must finally stand up to Rome and to the bishops’ powerful lobbyists in DC.
At present, Federal law protects from sexual abuse immigrant women and college students, but not children. Absolutely absurd! While women and college students surely need Federal legal protection, so do defenseless children.
A major election year has just begun and all must pressure every candidate to act boldly and specifically to protect defenseless children from sexual abuse.
For more analysis of the Penn State implications for the Church’s abuse scandals, please note my comment and related crosslinks under the heading, “What is the real story?” , accessible by clicking on at
:http://ncronline.org/news/global/political-responsibility-and-human-trafficking .
Accountability… that is the difference! The president of the university was fired as well. I could not have imagined any other outcome. Universities and even corporations act swiftly on these kinds of things if for no other reason that dread of the possible consequences.
The contrast with institutional church leadership is breathtaking. Why do they have so little fear of backlash from the pews?
Well, they have more important things to do like eliminating lowly laypersons directly addressing the priest’s “The Lord be with you” (“and also with you”) and making it clear that only a priest can be responded to with the words “and with you spirit.” Benny says the changes will help us pray better … “consubstantial with the Father?” Have sure missed that “consubstantialis patris.”
email sent, call made
I wonder how this all would have played out if the university were, oh, say, Notre Dame?
You wouldn’t have heard about it, and both coaches would be coaching elsewhere today, and taking full advantage of the university showers.
This leaves me very confused:
Victims’ Lawyer Attacks Penn State Board
Updated: Thursday, 10 Nov 2011, 9:08 AM EST
Published : Thursday, 10 Nov 2011, 8:52 AM EST
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The Penn State Board of Trustees opened a huge can of worms in its firing of Joe Paterno, as it is now under attack from the lawyer for victims in the sex-abuse case.
“The board of trustees got it wrong. They should have consulted the victims before making a decision on Mr. Paterno,” attorney Ben Andreozzi said in a statement released to the Harrisburg Patriot News.
“They should have considered these victims watch TV and are aware of the students’ reaction and may not want to be associated with the downfall of Mr. Paterno. The school instead elected to do what it felt was in its own best interest at the time. Isn’t that what put the school in this position in the first place?”
Andreozzi does pro bono work for a group of victims in the case based in Harrisburg.
If Paterno worked for the Pope he would still have his job.
He’d be coaching at Catholic University next month, as would Sandusky.
Because he is a layman and not one of their ordained clergy, he probably would have been fired under the same circumstances. However, I certainly get your point and its a good one. You just got my “thumbs up” .
Paterno had two choices – do “What Jesus Would Do” or “Do what the Catholic Church” would do.
Now child sex in Pennsylvania has a face, and a name – Jerry Sandusky. He was having sex with a 10 year old boy in a shower. The vision gets more horrid if you read their grand jury report, but it isn’t nearly as bad as the Philadelphia report, which, by the way, is no longer online, during the hottest “news cycle” ever for this topic. Try to click through the link at the bottom of http://www.phila.gov/districtattorney/grandJury_clergyAbuse2.html
Is that an accident, Seth Williams, Catholic DA? Maybe the Penn State board of trustees should fire Seth and oversee the investigation themselves.
Hold on – these scores just in:
Philadelphia Archdiocese 37, Penn State 1
Catholic church 4392, Penn State 1 (score based on 2004 John Jay report)
Few other notes:
– out of the 37 priests in Philadelphia, 16 Sandusky’s are roaming free around the world thanks to the protective power of the Catholic church. That’s just from Philadelphia, and those are just the ones we know about. Some are in your neighborhoods, some are in other neighborhoods, and some are pedophile priests from parishes in other states that were relocated to Philadelphia. Retirements fully paid by your contributions.
– for those of you that thought that maybe these priests were too old to have sex with children, look at Sandusky
– the Penn State students that were rioting are the same as the Catholics that defend bishops. However, they were drunk emotional kids that didn’t have time to process the facts. As the story unfolds, and more kids come forward and tell their stories, the impact of Bishop Paterno’s decision will become clear
– think it’s an accident that the event in the shower happened in 2002? The exact same year that Boston broke the Catholic pedophile priest scandal? Think that isn’t a message from God?
God helps those who help themselves, and God works in mysterious ways. God just showed how the pagans treated a single accused pedophile, and 5 people, including the most powerful man in Pennsylvania, got fired in 5 days, despite the angry mob of uninformed drunks outside.
Patrick, the 2011 Grand Jury report is STILL in the RESOURCE link at top of page, where I sure hope it is SECURE!
WRONG.
I’m not trashing you, but if you go there, you will see that the pointer no longer goes to the Grand Jury report.
The point is that it’s missing for all of the public that may want to look at it TODAY while the Penn State story is so prevalent. You have to decide if that’s a mistake by Seth Williams, the Catholic DA.
You also can’t find it easily on Google. Try, but I used to work for a search engine, and I know this stuff pretty well, and couldn’t find it.
You have to decide if this fits into the concept of covering up. Don’t worry, God is going to make the Penn State story much worse, so there will be more opportunities in the future.
Patrick thanks for pointing that out Kathy should we call Seth on this one? Call and say were is the Report?
I went to the link in the resources under Grand Jury 2011 and it is there.
I checked too. It is there maybe a glitch earlier. Maybe alot of people are looking at it now .
IT DOESN’T WORK, EVEN NOW.
Click to either Grand Jury Report 2011, then click the link a the bottom, which doesn’t work.
Then click Grand Jury Report 2005, which goes to a generic page.
Then try to find it on the internet anywhere.
Patrick, in the RESOURCE link, you punch Final Grand Jury Report…I just did it, and it’s there.
Patrick…the 2011 Grand Jury report in the RESOURCE link needs to have the statement FINAL GRAND JURY REPORT tapped.
This line is not at the bottom of the link but several lines above it.
You are absolutely right about the 2005 link…and I asked Kathy about it awhile back as I would like to read it too!
I think you are really right about folks needing to tie into this data, TODAY.
Joan, you are frustrating me, and you probably have a cache problem.
– go to Resources at the top of the Catholics4Change page
– click Grand Jury Report 2011
– at the BOTTOM of the page, click the link
– THEN hit REFRESH for your browser so it doesn’t get the one from the cache.
IT’s NOT THERE.
Now, let me tell you a possible explanation. A ton of web pages point to that document. During this high profile news crisis, and for a day or two, people will try to go read some of it, and will get infuriated by seeing a problem that is 37 times as large as Penn State, and adds in the fact that 37 “Sandusky’s” were moved after they were caught. And moved again. And protected by a lot of people.
If the document isn’t there, people can’t get the truth, can’t get infuriated, and won’t do anything about it.
Patrick, let’s try this one more time. I use an I Pad 2…..have other Macs but like my I Pad.
I just checked it for the 4th time and had exactly the same result.
I go to RESOURCE?..Then see Grand Jury Report and I touch it.
Then there is a discussion of the report and a line above the bottom line says Final Grand Jury Report and it’s high lighted, I touch that and up springs the report. Which I have read so often, my eyes are crossing.
We obviously have different systems. But Beth and Kathy are able to access this info with whatever system they use.
Hope this helps.
At the BOTTOM. Not near the bottom, the very BOTTOM line.
Patrick I have pulled up the entire 2011 Grand Jury report 5 times today -at least.
I created a 24 second video PROVING it doesn’t work at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtOoVacqnZo
Patrick we all can access the 2011 report. The 2005 report is no longer linked-I am not sure what has happened – this is what I found when I googled 2005 -it is available in sections,on Bishop accountability Accountabilityhttp://www.phila.gov/districtattorney/grandJury/grandJury.html
No, a small piece of it is available in BishopsAccountability.org
The point is that all of the articles on the internet that refer to that Grand Jury report, and all of the people who look for “philadelpphia grand jury report” in Google because they hear about the fact that Philadelphia Catholic church was 37 times as bad as Penn State will not be able to find it.
And I’m guessing that’s not an accident.
Patrick Call the Phila. D.A.’s office and ask them where the full report can be accessed. They hold the power-it is their document.
The title of your piece is so powerful – Penn State responds better than the Catholic Church to sex abuse. It speaks so vividly to how the Church could have done it right. — Dick Taylor
When I emailed the board of trustees at Penn State yesterday (hopefully I was one of thousands), I suggested they LEARN from the way the Catholic Church and AoP are mishandling the priest sex abuse scandal. The Catholic Church and the parishes are falling apart. They are losing people in droves. A decade of cover-up is sickening but with last night’s board of trustees actions, justice can follow and healing can begin… God bless the victims.
I received an email response from Marsico, today. Presumably, anyone who contacted him via email received what I got.
I’m interested in what others think about it.
Thanks.
Email sent to Marsico; phone not answering at 6:10PM.
Do not be discouraged by Marsico’s email response. Call and email AGAIN today. We must move these Bills forward. Let him know that you are not giving up -we sure aren’t.
Everyone please call AND email Rep. Ron Marsico’s office TODAY! A one sentence email saying you support 832 and 878. Call the office and state that you support 832 and 878. Even if you are from outside of PA. still make the call. Tell them the eyes of the nation are on Pa. and these bills must be put on the agenda for hearings. We ALL must work for the protection of children. As adults it is our responsibilty.
Hon. Ron Marisco, Republican Chair, 717-783-2014 ,rmarsico@pahousegop.com
I just read the grand jury report…I’m sickened.
Today’s NY Times on B 17, published a shortened (from the Grand Jury Report) description of the victims reported abuse experiences, which is the first time I have seen that done.
The Times did very extensive coverage including a front page lead on Gov. Corbett detailing his difficulties as State Attorney General who had initiated an abuse investigation of the Penn State matter in 2009, but was unable to speak publicly until now.
SW, today’s NY Times on B17 actually published a shortened version of the 8 abuse victims Grand Jury stories in the Penn case.
I was very glad to see this, as the actual (if abbreviated) stories explain the abuse far more effectively than just a general statement about the victims.
Just want to say thanks to you all again~ as a survivor, the students’ reactions were very traumatizing. It brought back the feeling of being isolated with the pain. You good people remind me that not everyone is like that.
Janet – I watched alot of the Penn State coverage and it was difficult to see those couple thousand students’ reaction. BUT, many students interviewed said this was the right thing – they were very saddened by the decade long cover-up and the rowdy students supporting JoePa.