Shame on Angelo Cataldi

Published on by D. G. Hart

Joe Posnanski, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who is working on a biography of Joe Paterno, wrote a very good column about what to remember about Joe Pa (thanks to MM who should have his own blog). Here is an excerpt:

Writing a book comes from the soul. It consumes you — mentally, emotionally, spiritually, all of it. I have thought about Joe Paterno, his strengths, his flaws, his triumphs, his failures, his core, pretty much nonstop for months now. I have talked to hundreds of people about him in all walks of life. I have read 25 or 30 books about him, countless articles. I’m not saying I know Joe Paterno. I’m saying I know a whole lot about him.

And what I know is complicated. But, beyond complications — and I really believe this with all my heart — there’s this, and this is exclusively my opinion: Joe Paterno has lived a profoundly decent life.

Nobody has really wanted to say this lately, and I grasp that. The last week has obviously shed a new light on him and his program — a horrible new light — and if you have any questions about how I feel about all that, please scroll back up to my two points at the top.

But I have seen some things in the last few days that have felt rotten, utterly wrong — a piling on that goes even beyond excessive, a dancing on the grave that makes me ill. Joe Paterno has lived a whole life. He has improved the lives of countless people. I know — I’ve talked to hundreds of them. Almost every day I walk by the library that he and his wife, Sue, built. I walk by the religious center that tries to bring people together, and his name is on the list of major donors. I hear the stories, the countless stories, of the kindnesses that came naturally to him, of the way he stuck with people in their worst moments, of the belief he had that everybody could do a little bit better — as a football player, as a student, as a human being. I’m not going to tell you these stories now, because you can’t hear them. Nobody can hear them in the howling.

But I will say that I am sickened, absolutely sickened, that some of those people whose lives were fundamentally inspired and galvanized by Joe Paterno have not stepped forward to stand up for him this week, have stood back and allowed him to be painted as an inhuman monster who was only interested in his legacy, even at the cost of the most heinous crimes against children imaginable.

Shame on them.

I don’t know if Joe Posnanski is a Christian, but his charity and decency is one that all Christians should emulate (including Rod Dreher). The Lord really does work in mysterious ways.

39 thoughts on “Shame on Angelo Cataldi”

  4. Thanks MM for linking that to DGH. That was a piece of writing well worth reading. I was struck by his description of the word “howling.” We all have to deal with situations in our lives that can only be described and expressed by the word howl. That is the world we live in and it is our inheritence from our ancestors Adam and Eve. Joe Pa did live a decent life but his good works were filled with dirty rags. Can anyone say anything any differently? How we get any rewards for any of our “good works” is a mystery to me.

    Here is how the writer describe the word howling:
    The last week has torn me up emotionally. This doesn’t matter, of course. All that matters are the victims of the horrible crimes allegedly committed by former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. I cannot say that enough times. Sometimes, I feel like the last week or so there has been a desperate race among commentators and others to prove that they are MORE against child molesting than anyone else. That makes me sick. We’re all sickened. We’re all heartbroken. We’re all beyond angry, in a place of rage where nothing seems real. The other day, I called it “howling.” I meant that in the purest sense of the word — crying in pain.

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  6. And I do realize that when someone is in a state of howling it is difficult to make rational and informed decisions. That is why you have to keep coming back to the Sabbath to hear and get informed about the Law and the Gospel.

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  8. This certainly is an interesting issue of biblical proportions. I am always amazed at the remarkable kingdoms that those who are talented enough and have the character to sustain are able to build and keep running. Those kingdoms always seem to crumble at some point. That is what makes reading about David and his son Solomon so interesting. A whole lot of the Old Testament is taken up telling that story. It just reminds me to trust the kingdom, built by somone who knows all the ins and outs of what is really going on, that will endure forever. And to drink deeply from the means of grace.

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  9. Yeazel, I’ve thought about it, and I have a few trial balloons in mind. Any blog needs a title and a picture to represent the perspective of the blog, right? So I’m visualizing a picture of me next to an albino donkey for “The White Ass Inn.” Perhaps a rough ‘n tumble blog could be called The Confessional Slaughterhouse. Or, to represent hackneyed, stale ideas, I could have a picture of an old, moist piece of bread and call it Mold Life. A parody on too-smiley, too ecumenical evangelicalism? Miami Nice.

    See, it’s not the lack of ideas, but whether there’s a market for them.

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  10. Since no one to my knowledge who blogs on this site has seen a picture of you, I vote for the “White Ass Inn” so your true idenity will be revealed. You don’t blog for a market, you blog to express what you think is important and others may join in on the conversation if it is deemed worthy for others to read. You certainly seem to have the ability and provocation necessary to have a worth while blog site
    that others may want to read.

    I’m not sure if you were just telling me to shut up and keep my comments to myself. Sometimes I think that may be the best thing for me to do these days. But the dialog here keeps me coming back and I can’t resist from keeping from commenting.

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  11. MM,

    I certainly feel your pain in regards to others lack of concern about issues that really matter, so, perhaps Mold Life would be the most appropriate. I think you could do what Paul M is trying to do at his site in a manner that others may want to listen in more.

    I was just watching a movie yesterday about 3 college kids who started a bookie service in their dorm room (which took off to the point that the local mob and police departments had to intervene in order to stop) and they did their payouts in Library books that no one had taken out in 10 years. All the titles were of books of weight and meat (like the dialogues of Plato) that no one wanted to deal with. Perhaps your humorous style may make others more concerned about the issues that really matter. OK, I’ll shut up now.

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  12. Mr. “Mann”,

    Why all the deference dude, do the blog. I would relish the opportunity to be a commenter over at the White (euphamism for Donkey or what my wife calls me when I really have it coming) Inn. There are literally kazillions of us 2k types who would run your Askimet ratings through the roof man!

    All honesty, it would be cool to see you have your own corner of the internet, as you have a knack for some fairly interesting commentary. But if you ever ruffle my feathers, expect a disgruntled letter to the editor.

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  13. Jed, I didn’t want to use the parenthetical of our host as an excuse to hijack this thread, but thanks for the support. I will only ruffle your feathers it would be expedient to treat you as a means to an end. Or if I’m cranky. But those would be the only two reasons, I think.

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  18. dgh, typically ambiguity is my refuge, but here maybe not so much. Does it look like Miami Vice colors? Anyway, I just clicked on something because I didn’t have time to consider something more permanent. I don’t think I’d go to the Y with a t-shirt that looked like that, although it might be interesting at a Tea Party rally.

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  24. “It’s fun to re-read the last few comments with the *current* avatar.”

    Clearly I’m tinkering with something well outside of my comfort zone. And, in case someone like Yeazel asks, that’s an iconic picture of blues legend Robert Johnson in front of a theological library. The USPS made a stamp out of the RJ picture, except they censored the cigarette and made it a multi-color picture. Which is to say, they transformed an extraordinary picture into something that might be in a child’s coloring book called Great American Heros.

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  27. “cigaretes (the Raymond Carver spelling) are no more Reformed…”
    No, but cool pictures are.

    “than cigars.”
    Like I’ve said Zrim, just because Josef Stalin and Hugh Hefner smoked a pipe, that doesn’t mean you can’t. I mean, if you like that kind of company.

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  35. FYI, Zrim and the Confessional Outhouse folks were kind enough to give me a key, so I’ve posted a few things there (http://confessionalouthouse.wordpress.com/)

    My own blog needs a bit more design, links, etc., but Presbyterian Blue (http://presbyterianblues.wordpress.com/) is basically up and running.
    I appreciate visits and comments. I’ve learned a lot through dialogue here, and hope to there as well.

    Now back to your regular programming. Thanks, dgh.

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  37. dgh, I figured it was like giving real estate listings to someone who’s been in the guest bedroom a little too long. Don’t tell my wife you weren’t serious because I may get a cellphone upgrade on the pretense of having important blogging stuff to do. The trick will be convincing her that there is such a thing as important blogging stuff. After I explain to her what a blog is.

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  39. “Stuff” is large category. It’s all I do that she merely tolerates and needs not to have details.
    It’s not a matter of understanding as much as interest.

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