The coverage of Michael Jackson was over-the-top, certainly, but even more to the point was its breathtaking hypocrisy.  (But you have to love the matching ties and sunglasses at the funeral.)

During the TV commentary, there was inevitably a shrug of the shoulders whenever the mountain of allegations about child molestation were mentioned.  

A typical example was on last evening's Fox News when Juan Williams offered something to the effect, 'There is no need to bring up old allegations now.'  How kind, how sympathetic, how generous!  

Too bad the mainstream media cannot summon up the same attitude toward Catholic priests. 

Since late 2002, when the Boston Globe began to break the story of Rev. John J. Geoghan's concealed sexual track record with boys, the Catholic Church has become the object of mocking derision by the same phalanx of news commentators and entertainers that now lionize and eulogize Michael Jackson.  

Let me make myself clear: I am not saying Michael Jackson's death should have been the occasion of smutty jokes and asides.  The stars assembled yesterday did not come to bury Jackson but to praise him, and that's as it should be.  But the stark contrast of the charity shown toward Jackson and the mocking attitude shown toward our Church by elite members of the media, entertainment, and political classes is jarring.  

Priests receive sterner treatment about pedophilia and homosexual contact with underage teenagers because of vocation's moral requirements.  Fair enough. But, as we well know, once a priest has even been accused his life becomes a misery which has no end.  Both inside the Church and out, that priest is cut no slack and shown little, if any, charity at all. 

I'm glad the media has shortened their memories of Michael Jackson, perhaps they will do the same for the Church one day.