A Brief Reflection on the Penn State Scandal

The events that are unfolding in State College, Pennsylvania are bigger, of course, than sports.  They have to do with the vilest of crimes against the young, and the possibility that high ranking members of the University's athletic program turned a blind eye to it.  In their coverage some reporters have made references to the priest sex abuse scandal of the past decade.  While it doesn't make me feel good to see our troubles revisited yet again, I didn't expect that the Penn State scandal would suddenly make people forget what has been going on with the Church.  My only hope is that some of the more narrow minded members of the the press, and general public, will begin to see that the sexual exploitation and abuse of children is not a "priest" problem.  It exists in public schools, youth athletic leagues and even in family homes.  It can happen anywhere, and there is no one group that has a corner on offenders.  

This doesn't mean that the majority of school teachers, coaches or male family members are potential predators, any more than every priest is.  Sexual predators are married, single old and young.  They can be very charming, and are always cunning and calculating.  They are patient opportunists who take the time to make, or "groom," their opportunities.  This is a wide ranging problem.  The stats quoted at a recent conference I attended were mind blowing; one in four girls and one in seven boys have experienced some type of sexual abuse.  At this point we shouldn't vilify coaches anymore than we should vilify priests (I have a strange feeling others are going to come forward now to report abuses that took place in other locker rooms across the country).  What we need to do is educate ourselves to the tell tale signs that someone may be abused or is an abuser.  If we work with children we need to know the conduct policy and follow it, and the reportage policy and have the courage use it if we know or suspect abuse is happening.  We will never stop this crime completely, no matter how much we talk about "zero tolerance," but we can create a working culture that makes such crimes more difficult to commit.

It would be a shame if all the attention this story is getting is just another media feeding frenzy that will move on once another, more sensational scandal pops up.  I hope that this can raise our consciousness about a problem that is more pervasive than we like to admit.