Wheaton College professor case tragic

The news of a professor of Christian Education at Wheaton College charged with child pornography possession is tragic. It symbolizes the clinical employee issues organizations continue to face. It raises questions about how we screen people for positions of influence over children.

Are there not hints of deviant behavior observable by those who lead schools or churches? To what degree might a cloak of silence have contributed to the denial of this dirty little secret practiced by one who authored books on childhood spirituality? How did a missionary, pastor and professor fool so many people for so long?

Thank God for web-watchdogs and police sting operations who catch this stuff. As we find ourselves in Lent, if there is any way out of this mess, might it not be found in another criminal executed on a Roman tool of death whose sacrificed life makes forgiveness of my neighbor possible, when I don’t feel like offering it.

Paul O. Bischoff

Wheaton