The New England Cable News network aired a special last night on Paul Shanley called “Who Can Fathom the Human Heart?” I didn’t know about it ahead of time so I missed it. Here is their description:
On Wednesday, December 3, from 8:00-9:00 p.m., NECN will air the first, comprehensive television look at the life and ministry of Father Paul Shanley. The hour-long documentary follows Shanley from his early days as a respected and charismatic street priest, though his troubled thirty-year ministry in the Boston Archdiocese. ... The documentary puts Shanley’s record into perspective. It also explores how so many people could have admired and trusted Paul Shanley during the years in which others claim he was abusing them.
Gee, how could anyone have known that the priest ministering to gay runaways, telling them that selling themselves for sex was OK, could be a problem? How could we have known that a priest attending the founding conference of the North American Man-Boy Love Association might be a problem someday? Who can fathom the human heart? Look at how desparate some people are distance homosexuality from the Scandal. Even the Globe, on whose web site the NECN notice appears, once spoke of Shanley in glowing terms, defending him against critics because of his pro-gay attitude. Their protestations are weak.
