children than any other group. And we've had a few scandals in my area which involve public schools, and towns, those schools and public entities covered up just as much as the church did. Unfortunately, it's a human instinct (circle the wagons) that we humans have to scrap. I just saw a Frontline about a doctor who molested boys on various Native American reservations over a 10-year period. He'd take a job, scope out a community, find victims. His proclivities would become known, his current place of employment (always hospitals) would let him move on to a hospital on another reservation, and away he'd go again. (Sound familiar?) Some hospital administrators agreed to go on camera, surprisingly enough. They admitted they'd kept it hush-hush. Why? Money. Lawsuits. (BIA officials would not go on camera. But apparently his behavior was known by some at the federal level and nothing was done. Again, sound familiar?) Quite honestly, I think that's why the church did it. Lawsuits. Money. Isn't it always about money? It's certainly why the Louisville Police Department did what it did. Its cops were abusing explorers, and what did the city and department do? Cover it all up. Took a victim's lawyer to bring it all to light.
I know many people in many different faiths, and ministers screw up, run away with parishioners, turn out to be bad spouses and parents. They're like any other group. Which is not to say that married and women clergy shouldn't be allowed. Of course they should. It's a different world. People will not accept a celibate lifestyle. (Though Buddhist monks do. Are they overrun with pedophiles?) So, the clergy should be open to married men. AND to women, because that's the right thing to do.
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