The Atlantic: Noonan, Sex Abuse and Torture

Paul Kiesel

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Below is a brief and insightful blog from The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan:

21 Apr 2009 03:20 pm

Am I the only one to free associate from Peggy Noonan's infamous quote last Sunday to the church sex abuse crisis? This is what Noonan said about evidence of torture and war crimes:

“It’s hard for me to look at a great nation issuing these documents and sending them out to the world and thinking, ‘Oh, much good will come of that.’ Sometimes in life you want to keep walking… Some of life has to be mysterious."

Isn't that exactly what the church authorities said when uncovering evidence of child abuse and rape among their own clergy?

“It’s hard for me to look at a great church issuing these documents and sending them out to the world and thinking, ‘Oh, much good will come of that.’"

And it's the same reasoning: your loyalty to an institution requires covering up its crimes, not exposing them. But there is one difference: child abuse was not the actual policy of the Vatican. Torture was the actual policy of the Bush White House. And still she walks on.