UNITED STATES
Religion News Service
Cathy Lynn Grossman | May 30, 2015
Raise your hand if you hear a familiar bell ring as a scandal now envelops former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, a scandal ripe with still-unconfirmed links to teen sexual abuse during his long-ago years as a high school wrestling coach.
It’s that ring of familiar quotes: “Are they talking about our Denny?” says someone who coached for a rival team. “He was a man of character, a pillar in the community.”
Where have I heard talk like that before?
Ding! Ding! Ding! Catholic scandal, circa 2002, anyone?
The Catholic scandal ruptured like an abscess in the Archdiocese of Boston in 2002. And soon people in every state discovered the pestilence could be found there, too, maybe their own parish.
Across the country that year, as priest after priest was revealed to have molested or raped children and teens, we heard a refrain from shocked parishes:
Oh no, Father So-and-so was such a great priest! He loved kids. He helped kids. This can’t be so….
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