Just as guilty

"You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong."

So said Judge M. Teresa Sarmina of the Philadelphia County Common Pleas Court as she imposed a sentence of three to six years on  Msgr. William J. Lynn, a former aide to the archbishop of Philadelphia, for covering up the sexual abuse of children.

Good for her.

Let's hope that the same happens to officials at Penn State for their complicity in Jerry Sandusky's 15-year spree of  raping children. For allowing Sandusky to create an organization – The Second Mile – that enabled him to recruit victims. It is too bad Sandusky's boss, Joe Paterno, died before answering for his part in that horror.  

We need to send a message ... to obviate repeat situations.

Because the Monsignor and Paterno and the Penn State officials deserve to be punished as much, if not more, than Sandusky.

His victims are said to have been between the ages of 8 and 17 making him both a pedophile and a hebephile.

Sandusky is sick – paraphilias. (A condition in which a person's sexual arousal and gratification depend on fantasizing about and engaging in sexual behavior that is atypical and extreme.)

What are the others' excuses?

Reputation? A football program? Greed? Ignorance?

Paterno's excuse – "I didn't know exactly how to handle it and I was afraid to do something that might jeopardize what the university procedure was," according to the Washington Post  – is as ridiculous as it is unacceptable.

Each and every one of us knows what to do.

Penn State's former president, Graham Spanier, said he was so busy he didn't really know what was going on. Apparently the FBI has emails that refute that claim.

While Sandusky has the "excuse" that he is ill, there is absolutely no excuse for anyone who knows or suspects child abuse, in any form, and does nothing or covers it up.

None. Ever.

Each and every one of them should serve time ... perhaps the same amount of time they looked the other way?