SOMBER

Douthat: The Devil and Joe Paterno

It’s the virtuous who are more likely to overlook evil.

As the Penn State scandal swells opinion pages with finger-pointing and soul-searching, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat outlines the parallel between disgraced coach Joe Paterno and Catholic leaders who swept aside a global sexual-abuse crisis. “Good people, heroic people, are led into temptation by their very goodness—by the illusion, common to those who have done important deeds, that they have higher responsibilities than the ordinary run of humankind.” Sins committed in the name of protecting sacred institutions are the most tempting and can look like virtues. But “not even a lifetime of heroism can make up for leaving a single child alone, abandoned to evil, weeping in the dark.”