One thing is for sure about this Penn State scandal…we don’t know the whole story. One can only hope those making some pretty major decisions there now have a lot more info than we do. To be sure, this really isn’t a Penn State story—not one that does or should define it. But like every other organization affected by revelations of such horrors (something the Church is familiar with) there is no way to separate the rest of the organization from the actions of one person. This understandably makes people angry. But there is no way around it.
This is why, I suspect, the Trustees are being rather aggressive (which has drawn rather epic negative response). If you are at all familiar with the legal (and financial) settlements that churches have had to pay in case of child abuse, I suspect you only have seen a fraction of the financial exposure (to say nothing of the PR risk) that this whole thing places on the doorstep of Penn State. This could cripple the university. Seriously. No joke. I can't say I wouldn't do the same thing if I was in their place--I do honestly think they're trying to make every effort to handle the situation, which is, I think, the best they can do now, and hope that it will somehow mitigate the financial settlements Penn State will be smacked with.
I won’t attempt to speak to the loyalty many have for Joe Paterno—or the frustration at how he seems to be suffering perhaps a harsher penalty from the Penn State than the two others already indicted for lying to the grand jury (not to mention possibly many others who also knew). I don’t question the deep respect people have for him or that he is anything other than the epic personality that people hold him to be. But even really good people can make really big mistakes--and these big mistakes often seem rather small at the time.
I don’t know what happened here. I do know that even he expressed a wish, in hindsight, that he had done more. Sometimes a really good person makes a really big mistake that even a great deal of “good-ness” can’t make go away.
In the Church, we are, sadly, far too familiar with abuse incidents than perhaps almost any other field. This is both because of the cases which have occurred in religious settings but also because we see the terrible costs of these incidents in people’s lives—the lives of victims, perpetrators and families. This is not new—in my ministry I have come across older adults who were abused years ago and never told anyone—or who were not believed.
So I am terribly, terribly sad for the children whose lives were affected by Sandusky. I think the prosecutors are probably correct to believe there are many other victims out there. Not all cases of abuse are the same, and not all perpetrators are the serial abusers that Sandusky seems to have been. He appears to be the very sort of person that so many policies are written for.
At Calvary, like all other United Methodist Churches, we have a Safe Sanctuary policy. It isn’t perfect, and we are always working to refine and clarify it and implement it more and more effectively. From time to time we have to deal with folks who take issue with having a policy at all. Here’s the thing though, no one expected this sort of thing could happen at a place like Penn State. Because I truly believe that if people really did, then they would have worked harder to make sure it didn’t. There’s a great tendency to denial in all of us. Of not wanting to see, of not wanting to think the things you see on TV are, actually possible. Or a conviction that “it couldn’t happen here.” Ironically, it is the places most convinced “It couldn’t happen here” (and hence without strong, implemented policies) that can be some of the dangerous places.
These boys should never have had to undergo this abuse. Successful, good men who have done a great deal of good should not have to have their careers end this way. This is not the way things should be. But something—actually iit seems many things—went wrong here. And I think what we are seeing is what I hope are well-meaning people who are trying to hold things together, protect their school from risks that could really tangibly affect every aspect of its operation, and yes, I think, people trying to do the right thing.
If there’s anything we’ve been reminded of, it is that there are sometimes difference between doing just what rules or laws require and doing the right thing. And that sometimes, despite the risks of doing the right thing, the risks of not doing the right thing, or hiding behind doing just what is required, are far worse.
No, I don’t know all the details. I will be paying attention, because unfortunately this is an issue that I have to deal with regularly—as we attempt to have policies that allow kids to be kids, adults to teach them about God and care for them, all in ways that protect everyone. It’s not an easy thing to do. It is indeed a very hard thing to do.
I do not at all envy the position the Penn State Trustees are in. I have no doubt that whatever they have decided and have yet to decide, there will be fierce critics. I hope, however, that we can try to appreciate the terrible, terrible situation they are in, a position that I think none of us would ever want to be in.
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