Priestly Pedophilia

There is a business and political lesson in the worldwide outrage over priestly pedophilia.

A few (we assume, and hope, that it is only a tiny minority compared to the many dedicated servants of the Church) rogue priests are a problem but one that could have been solved without major damage to the organization. It is not the crimes - heinous as they are - that are the biggest issue. Rather, it is denial, and the ensuing cover up, that causes the maximum damage to the reputation of a person or organization.

Many individuals and businesses have conspired to cover up problems and wrongdoing. President Richard Nixon was forced to resign his office after the House Judiciary Committee approved Articles of Impeachment following his attempted cover up of an accurately described 'third rate burglary' at the Watergate office building. In the corporate world, the tobacco industry destroyed its reputation by denying and covering up evidence - long known to its employees and management - of the dangers of smoking and of second hand smoke.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Roman Catholic Church has generally been a force for good - at least since the demise of such horrors as the Medici Popes and the Spanish Inquisition - it will take many years, perhaps centuries if Pope Benedict XVI does not address the issue in a direct and forthright manner, before its reputation is fully restored.

The world will hardly be a better place if the Roman Catholic Church turns inward and becomes dysfunctional because, by hiding from the truth, it manages to inflict more damage on itself than even the pedophile priests have inflicted on their victims.