ohbloodyhell8

I went to two universities, neither of which had a football team.  Clearly, I am not one who follows college football.  I have heard bits and pieces of the Penn State mess.  My prayers go out to the victims.  My disgust goes out to the pig and the others who knew but turned away.  My awkwardness goes out to the alums, current students, and future students (especially if it’s a family tradition to go there).  How do you say you are proud of a school that covered up such a scandal, potentially in the name of the powerful football dollar?

No.  I haven’t walked in the Penn State student’s shoes.  But I can write that I am not proud of the fact that I used to be Catholic.  I left the Catholic church in ’83, right after I was confirmed. I haven’t been a part of that church for almost 30 years.  I’m sure they do some good for the church members, the community.  I truly hope and pray there are Catholic churches that haven’t been touched by that scandal.  But since they all listen to the Pope…

I am not proud of the fact that the Catholic church I went to did have one of the priests that helped contribute to the scandal.  He got what amounts to a slap on the wrist.  I shudder to think that I knew altar boys there.  I shudder to think of how their lives were impacted by that priest.  And the church knew.  Just as it seems to be shaping up at Penn State, people knew.  People knew and didn’t do anything.

One thing both of these situations have in common is money.  If there is enough money, it can be covered up.  If there is enough money, turn away.  Pretend you don’t see it.  Part of the reason I left the Catholic church.  I can’t pretend I don’t see things that don’t seem to make sense.  Possibly part of the reason I earned my BFA and MA at schools without football.  I never did get all the hype around football.

Sadly this has probably happened since humans began walking the earth.  We all now know about it instantly because of technology.  We learn about it before all of the facts have been gathered-is there any chance of the actual truth coming out now?  Now that snippets have been released, will memories be tainted?  Will people remember things a bit differently?  Do we know how to process it?  Do we know how to react?  Will we ever figure out how to prevent this from continuing to happen?

Most importantly, how do we help the victims heal and move forward from this?  I will pray for them.  That’s one thing I can do.