Lent thoughts 17

In the light of the latest twist in the Cardinal O'Brien saga the logical thing to write about would be hypocrisy in the church, but I'm too hopping mad to do anything but rant about that at present.

They were interviewing people coming out of Mass yesterday - one assumes before the "confession" broke. One lady, clearly upset, was saying what a lovely man O'Brien is, and that's a generally held view. Trouble is, it's all too easy to assume one aspect of someone's character reflects their whole. People were sure, because Lance Armstrong seemed such a nice guy who'd inspired so many cancer sufferers, that he couldn't be a liar and a cheat. Same with Harold Shipman. His patients testified to what a wonderful, caring GP he was, so he couldn't be routinely murdering old people, could he?

Of course, being nice means more likelihood of getting away with things - if Shipman had been shifty and unpleasant maybe people would have been suspicious earlier. Some child abusers will deliberately cultivate the avuncular, trust worthy image so they can inveigle their way into families and organisations.

But sometimes it's more complex. Nice people do horrendous things and people who do great good can also do great evil.