A Perfectly Cromulent Blog

Priest, forgive thyself

Because no one else will:

Defrocked priest Paul Shanley, a central figure in the Boston Archdiocese clergy sex abuse scandal, was sentenced today to 12 to 15 years in prison for raping a boy repeatedly in the 1980s.

"It is difficult to imagine a more egregious misuse of trust and authority," Judge Stephen Neel said in imposing the term. But he turned aside a prosecutor's request for a life sentence.

Shanley, 74, once known for a being a hip "street priest" who reached out to troubled children and homosexuals, was convicted last week of two counts each of child rape and indecent assault and battery on a child.

I'll just bet he "reached out" to troubled children. There's not much left to say now about this wretched man. At 74, 12 to 15 years (eligible for parole after 8) means Shanley will likely die in prison.

Though not necessarily of natural causes:

Some inmate advocates say whatever prison term Shanley gets could amount to a death sentence.

Another key figure in the scandal in Massachusetts, former priest John Geoghan, was beaten and strangled behind bars in 2003, a year after being convicted of molesting a 10-year-old boy. A fellow prisoner later told investigators he killed Geoghan "to save the children."

"He's so high-profile that that puts a big target on his back," said James Pingeon, a lawyer at Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, a group that provides civil legal services to inmates. "We feel concerned. Obviously, he's a vulnerable person because of his notoriety and his age."

True, but as long as he asks for forgiveness everything will be all right, won't it?

Conscious as I am of the horrific conditions in American prisons, I'm having a hard time dredging up a lot of sympathy for Shanley. If I believed in hell, my fervent hope would be for him to burn in it.