Editorial for Decmber 27, 2007 edition:


Never again

Word that Archbishop Ryan High School’s former principal, the Rev. Charles Newman, is charged with stealing nearly a million dollars from the school and from his religious order, the Franciscan Friars, and that he allegedly used hush money to buy the silence of a former student whom he had sexually abused, couldn’t have come at a better time for the good folks who attend or teach at the school, or whose children attend the school.
This is, after all, the middle of the Christmas holiday break, a time for Ryan students and their families to go shopping — and go shopping again to return unwanted gifts — spend time together, sit back and reflect on life.
Had school been in session this week, the atmosphere would have been tough, as the community tries to come to grips with the charges against Rev. Newman.
Like all defendants in criminal cases, Rev. Newman is presumed innocent until proved guilty, but if District Attorney Lynne Abraham is correct, what a revolting development it is.
Sexual abuse by members of the clergy has happened over the last several decades — that’s a fact — and a conspiracy of silence, a "look the other way, report no evil" policy on the part of victims of sexual abuse, their parents and teachers, and the archdiocese, has indubitably played a part. Two wrongs never make a right.
Until the Roman Catholic Church allows priests to marry (women), the sins of abuse might happen every now and then. But do not under any circumstances allow them to go unreported and unpunished for even a split-second.
It is a sin to not report a sin when that sin is against the law. God needs to know about such behavior.
Even more important, the police and prosecutors need to know about them. oo

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