Jesus tells us that soon all secrets will be made public. He even seems to encourage us to take part in the process. “What you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.” (Mt 10:27)

We Americans, more than any other society, have fulfilled these words. A few years back, a government agency spent forty millions dollars to investigate and publish intimate details about the president. Locally, Seattle newspapers printed a priest's picture, along with prurient accounts of his failings some two decades ago.

Dark secrets have been exposed to all, including small children. But is that really what Jesus had in mind?

I think not – for at least two reasons. First, they missed these men’s greatest sins. As much as their crimes repulse us, there are worse things to report. Now, I am not claiming inside knowledge about Bill Clinton or my priest friend. I know this because, for thirty years, people have told me their miseries in the sacrament of reconciliation. Everyone has worse things in their account than what a newspaper can summarize.

Second, we might wonder why the spotlight has been focused on these men? For sure, their acts were reckless and imprudent. They have no one to blame but themselves. And yet… And yet, someday, all of us – accusers and accused – will have our lives exposed to such a searching light.

I am not trying to promote relativism.* No, if we could see our smallest sin for what it truly is, we would feel more revulsion for it than we presently do for the horrible acts of betrayal we have read about in recent months. Perhaps because of all this, we can begin to glimpse the duplicity and cruelty involved in every sin.

Jennifer Morse had an excellent column entitled Let the Sexual Counter-Revolution Begin. She states:

“The scandals of priests not living their vows of celibacy provide an opportunity to revisit some of the long-held assumptions of the sexual revolution.” Among the myths she examines are: