When I grew up my father and all my brothers watched football on Saturday. Our team was Notre Dame and we pretty much viewed all the other teams (especially Miami) as evil. There were exceptions. The service academies, of course were an exception. And Penn State. My Dad told us that Joe Paterno played by the rules and was a good man. We still wanted Notre Dame to win but it didn’t hurt so bad if we didn’t.
I still believe Joe Paterno is a good man. He’s a good man that deserved to be fired for doing something very wrong.
November 11, 2011 at 4:46 pm
A good man doesn't sit back and allow children to be raped. He knew what that monster was, and he closed his eyes.
Sorry, there is no justification for his inaction.
You just ask the victims that came after.
November 11, 2011 at 6:22 pm
I couldn't agree more. As someone who was victimized by an older cousin for years and who was afraid to tell anyone in large part BECAUSE THE COUSIN WAS IDOLIZED by the family, I speak from experience. WE ARE MORALLY BOUND TO PROTECT CHILDREN. Period. We are responsible for and to the human person, not for following a chain of command. ACTIVELY TRYING TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT PARTICULARLY WHEN YOU HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF GRAVE HARM TRUMPS EVERYTHING. In my case, why did no one ask why an older male cousin always wanted to be alone in the basement with me? In Paterno's case, why did he not move heaven and earth to get to the bottom of an EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT of a child rape? We have to be diligent, we can't make assumptions regarding children. Too much is at risk. No one would have ever thought this would have happened in my "good" family, or on "good man" Paterno's team, but yet it did.
November 11, 2011 at 6:43 pm
While I understand what you are saying, Matthew, and, while we should, indeed, judge a person by the totality of their actions, based on what I have heard about this case, I have to disagree.
Here is my problem. If Mr. A had come into my office one day "shaken" and told me what he had just seen Mr. B. raping a 10-year old boy in the shower I would have been up out of my chair and running immediately.
I don't care if I was 100 years old and the perp was 20 feet tall and 21 years old. I would have told someone to call 911 and meet me (wherever the guy was). I would have probably beat him close to death with my cane and nothing would be able to stop me.
On the other hand, if it was weeks or months after the event. I would have been in my car, on the way to his house, calling 911 to have police and paramedics meet me there so that the guy might still be revived after I ripped his throat out.
Sorry, but I think my reaction is the average regular guys' reaction. I would not be able to sleep, to eat, to look in the mirror if I didn't IMMEDIATELY do something.
How could Paterno even LOOK at this guy? Not say something knowing that he had access to the campus and to more boys.
In fact, if what I have heard is the fact, then in my book Paterno – for whatever good he may have done – is an accessory. He turned a blind eye. Now, this guy (don't even want to type his name) is likely to be murdered in jail.
I just don't know how he could do such a thing and be a "good man". Something is wrong there. Just imagine how you would feel about good ole Lou, if the child had been yours? You would probably not think he was such a "good guy".
I hate to disagree with you, but on this one, I do. (Please let me know if I do have my facts wrong here, but if he knew and did nothing, that's all I need to know about the true character of the man.)
November 11, 2011 at 9:01 pm
"Joe Paterno Is A Good Man" ?
Matthew, you'd better go directly to your parish priest and get some remedial lessons in moral theology.
Or else please stop portraying yourself as a Catholic.
You're embarrassing the rest of us with this Joe's-just-a-good-man-who's-done-a-bad-thing crap.
Man-up, get over your solipsistic nostalgia for a false myth you fell in love with, and call-out an obstinate sinner who has been willing to sacrifice the innocence of fragile children to maintain the comfort of his puny little empire or just be quiet and really respect those that have been hurt by this man's indifference, disregard, and vanity.
November 11, 2011 at 9:39 pm
Matt, really? I'm disappointed.
November 11, 2011 at 11:13 pm
Matthew Archbold: You are guilty of idolatry, just like the Penn State football staff and administration. Your worship of this "living legend" (and his despicable assistant) has blinded you to common sense and morality.
November 11, 2011 at 11:52 pm
We've learned alot of hard lessons when someone kicks it upstairs instead of calling the cops. So to repeat: Call the cops, call the cops, call the cops. In fact, my slogan for Catholic laity: "Call the cops–don't leave it to chancery."
November 12, 2011 at 12:03 am
I don't think that the Coach acted as a good man. He was confronted with a great evil about someone he worked with and respected. When his moment of truth came he quaked. Yes, he did what he had to do, but he had more of a moral responsibility. It was his watch and he failed. He may be a good coach, but he's been a weak man since he first heard of the abuse. I bet it has been bothering his conscience for many years.
November 12, 2011 at 12:36 am
"You shall not stand idly by while your neighbor's life is in jeopardy" WE are cowed by the monstrosity of child abuse. We will lose our jobs or be sued if the case is not proved in a court of law. Doing the right thing was beneath Joe Paterno.
November 12, 2011 at 3:13 am
There comes a time in Everyman’s life when he is given the chance to prove himself a Man. To use a football analogy – he is open in the end zone with a pass headed his way. Joe Paterno (as well as a slew of other Penn Staters) found himself in this situation and dropped a wide open pass in the end zone.
Football was more important to these people than the life of a young boy. You expect us to believe that Joe Paterno and the entire coaching staff did not know they had a homosexual pedophile pervert in their midst? The perv worked with them for decades! The entire football staff should be fired.
November 12, 2011 at 4:58 am
I'll swan. Feelings, feelings, feelings. My dad, a WWII veteran, always said that feelings are crap when the right thing needs to be done. Much like when a house is on fire–do you save the dog, or the kid….or you wanna talk about it for awhile?
Knowledge of the abuse is abuse!!!! Let's just wait about 50 or 60 years to talk about what a good man coach was–and let's keep focused on the evil here. And that includes EVERY single adult that knew, saw, acted on, had wind of, might have suspected, etc. that this was going on. Right now there's a small boy (boys!) who's life will never be the same because of 'good people doing the wrong thing'…..so basically the house burned down and these people watched! I don't want to talk about their goodness just yet, I'm busy watching yet another kid burn.
November 12, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Matt,
You've read the comments here and in the National Catholic Register in response to your article.
Have you learned anything from them ?
Will there be a follow-up to "Joe Paterno is a Good Man"
Or have you moved on to some propagating some other misinterpretation of what Jesus expects from us "good" people ?
We'd like to know.
November 12, 2011 at 7:38 pm
The only thing evil needs to triumph is for 'good' men to do nothing. Joe Paterno did nothing. Very disappointed in your perspective in this horrific tragedy. Young boys lives are forever changed by evil because 'good' men did nothing – there is nothing good about it. Joe Paterno may have played by the rules on the football field but in life he has lost his 'good' credentials. Football means nothing compared to this abhorrent evil. The fact that Mike McQueary didn't not rush to that child's defense the moment he saw it happen is the greatest evil – Paterno just kept it going.
November 12, 2011 at 8:03 pm
As someone who is right now involved with trying to help a child who has been abused, I am truly saddened and little sickened that you think someone is "good" who can't be bothered to help prevent children being raped.
I am watching "good" Christians bend over backwards right now, to "support" and even pass on information to the abusers of the child I have reported.
The other reportee is on the receiving ends of nasty communications.
She is standing firm. SHE is a "good" person because she is willing to continue to stand in teh firing line for the sake of this child.
It was a horribly difficult decision for both of us to report, but we did it and other wouldn't. It's easier to pretend the abuse isn't happening.
If you want to know how it is that so many children get so seriously abused, then your hero is a good example.
While I hope he seriously repents of his horrific silence, there is no way he can be white washed, only forgiven.
I don't normally hide behind Anonymous, but the situation is delicate, for the child.
November 12, 2011 at 8:09 pm
Penn State is a horrible institution and everyone in positions of leadership there that knew about this are sick and depraved.
As late as THIS SPRING Penn State was using Sandusky to recruit high school players!
"Adam Ah Ching, a senior linebacker at Greer High School in South Carolina, said that Sandusky actually visited him this past season as a recruiting ploy."
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/11/11/sandusky-recuited-hs-players-this-season/
November 12, 2011 at 9:10 pm
I think you all could not be more wrong about Joe Pa by jumping to judgements about what he did. He reported it to his boss and the Commissioner for the Campus Police, who by statute have the same authority as municipal police. They can perform investigations as local Police can. The arguments made here and elsewhere are based on a set of assumptions that are simply not known.
For one, the suggestion that he knew Sandusky is a monster is not known and quite possibly the opposite of what is the truth. His knowledge on the matter was hearsay while McQuery's knowledge was first hand. This puts him in the difficult position of believing something unbelievable about someone close to him on the basis of hearsay. I believe most people would report it to the authorities and let them do their job. We do not know what Paterno was told by the Admin after he reported the abuse.
Where am I going with this? There is not sufficient evidence to hang Paterno on this, and most certainly not enough to suggest he's not a man or committed a moral evil. The emphasis should be on folks that had more evidence and more direct involvement such as McQuery, Penn State Admin, the charity Second Mile and their counsel who was also counsel at Penn State.
Its admirable to call those responsible to accountability. The outrage is not only good but a helpful step in generating change. However, its not admirable to ruin a man's name to achieve your goal. The media, most everywhere I look, is guilty of justifying the means by the end as their method for judging Paterno.
November 12, 2011 at 11:30 pm
"The outrage is not only good but a helpful step in generating change. However, its not admirable to ruin a man's name to achieve your goal."
What are you smoking? JoePa was playing a game of CYA for years, since at least 2002, if not longer. He didn't report this monster because it would have been bad for his program, bad for his record, and bad for his reputation. JoePa is a moral midget, and his defenders are laughable at best.
November 13, 2011 at 12:56 am
And HOW do you know that? If you can't explain that then you miss my entire point.
November 13, 2011 at 4:06 pm
I just can't understand how a man witnessing abuse of a boy by another man wouldn't immediately slam the perp against a wall and call 911. I would probably run in, grab the kid and tell him to run. But I'm a woman, not a man. Good people do bad things, but a moment like this would be a real barometer for where one's priorities are.
November 13, 2011 at 5:04 pm
Don't be so judgemental towards Joe Paterno! The Penn State love-making scandal is being hyped up by the liberal lamestream media. It was just a little harmless jesting that goes on in every lockeroom. If these boys can't take the heat, they need to get the hell out of the kitchen. St. Jude, pray for us.