Religion journalist David Gibson, who is a Catholic, has an insightful list of how the Penn State scandal both is, and is not, like the scandal in the Catholic Church. I thought this, from the “is not” list, was especially on target:

Penn State has a system of accountability, however imperfect, because like any university, the school is governed by a board of trustees. In this case, the board took relatively swift action (albeit under severe pressure from the public and authorities) in part because if Penn State loses customers, it goes kaput.

The Catholic Church, meanwhile, believes that even the “gates of hell will not prevail” against it, and many church leaders embrace the “mustard seed” view of a smaller but more devout “saving remnant” that would be purified by suffering. In a reprise of the lesson of the Cross, they would “win by losing.” Needless to say, that’s not how universities, not to mention football teams, tend to see things.

What’s more, the pope is answerable to no one—except God.

What’s so important about that point is that it speaks to why there has been no effective pressure for bishops to be held personally accountable for their actions, and inactions. It’s not built into the system, theologically or ecclesiologically. The bishops will only be as accountable as they want to be — and there’s not much of anything anybody can do about that.

Gibson also notes that the Church, at least in the US, has put in a system designed to guard against sexual abuse — which is far more than college sports has done, despite periodic scandals. Still, as the Bishop Finn case in Kansas City shows, no system works if those in charge of it are determined to subvert it. Penn State could have had a system as thorough as that now in place in many U.S. Catholic dioceses, but if Joe Paterno was determined to ignore its rules, it would have been just for show.