Revoking Honors in the Wake of Abuse

The Pennsylvania grand jury investigation into sex abuse in the Roman Catholic church is damning: more than 300 Catholic priests in Pennsylvania were found to have abused children over a period of 70 years. The report identified 1,000 victims and noted that there were probably thousands more. The report also documented that many of these cases of abuse were known about for years by church authorities, who in many cases took little or no action.  In the wake of the report's release last month, Catholic colleges in Pennsylvania and across the country have responded. Many have rescinded honors -- degrees, medals and building names -- that recognized leaders of the church who sexually abused children or helped orchestrate a cover-up of the abuse.