Equal Opportunity for Priests: A Final Word on Polanski

In Miami today, two men, both in their 60's, sued the archdiocese for sexual abuse they allege took place more than 40 years ago. One man says, when he was 14, he was drugged and raped by a priest when he went to church to grieve the loss of his parents.

I think it's high time the clergy get their fair share of public contempt, and cries for paying their debt to society, to which Roman Polanski is forced to listen day in, and day out, in his cell in Zurich.

What's more, it's equally offensive, and absurd, when one thinks about the way many seem to obsess on the prurient angle of Polanski story -- e.g. the fact that he allegedly had anal sex with the girl. If it had been oral sex, would that have made it better? Why doesn't the mainstream media do as good a job when it comes to covering, or uncovering, different predatory acts by rogue clergy?

Really, the church has been a sanctuary for closet sex offenders for generations not just the ones who come to confess, but those who run the confessionals. Children have been victimized for generations, and yet how often are priests sentenced to 42 days in psychiatric lock-up? How often do we hear calls for them to pay their debt to society? Do they have a debt to society, or is it that just for celebrities and we ordinary folk?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not, for a minute, suggesting that these two priests in Florida be outed, and eviscerated in the public square like Mr. Polanski. All I'm saying is they deserve equal time, and an equal opportunity for a fall from grace.