Paying Attention

After a month-long search, Penn State announced that New England Patriots Offensive Coordinator Bill O’Brien will replace Joe Paterno as the next head coach of the football team.

The backlash has been angry and fierce.

Former Penn State players, alumni and boosters have complained most bitterly that O’Brien, a non-Penn State “outsider”, can’t possibly understand or uphold the high standards of Penn State football which Paterno built up over half a century.  Football success.  Graduation rates.  Decades of doing major college football “the right way.”  This outsider can’t possibly get what it means to carry on the PSU legacy.

Extraordinary.  And sadly similar to how the Roman Catholic Church has responded to its massive pedophilia scandal.  Did committing and covering up their heinous crimes make the Church more circumspect about condemning the moral sins they perceive in others?  Not hardly.  Every time I hear the pope or some outspoken archbishop condemn gay people or unwed mothers or a politician who supports abortion rights or people who use contraception, it makes me want to scream.  Or puke.  Or both.  

You’d think that when an institution covers up the sexual abuse of children, there would be enough remorse there to induce a little moral humility.  The absence of such humility indicates a lack of guilt, and that is nearly as bad as the original sin.