As every day brings to light more allegations of pedophilia among the Catholic clergy, reactions have become predictable: 1) Shock! 2) Denial. 3) Condemnation of the entire church. 4) Circling of the wagons to protect members of the faith from Catholic-bashing.

Much of this misses the point. This is not the Salem witch hunt, 21st century-style. Neither is it Catholic-bashing.

Young children, boys mainly, have been sexually abused without the Catholic Church doing much about it, except to keep it quiet. Prosecutors say they haven’t been able to do anything because it was kept quiet. Yet anyone who is honest knows this has been going on for decades, if not centuries.

But let me add this: The Catholics have no monopoly on sexually misbehaving clergy. Theirs is more noted, perhaps, because their priests take vows of celibacy. But among other faiths where there is no pretense of celibacy, clergy get caught in the act all the time, too.

This year, for instance, Howard Nevison, the cantor for one of the nation’s most prominent synagogues, Temple Emanu-El, was charged with sexually abusing a nephew, now 12. God bless that 12-year-old, for if the pattern holds true, the abused boy often grows up to abuse.

I identify with the people coming forward to ensure that their stories force reforms to protect kids in the future. In my childhood  I am a Baptist who grew up in a rural town in Georgia  the abuser was a deacon who lived across the street from my family. Mama was impressed with his piety and his interest in giving me Bible lessons.

The deacon across the street always told me to keep quiet, that what he did when he touched me was our secret. I didn’t tell mama about this until a few years ago, but it didn’t take me very long with the deacon to start finding excuses for staying away. Mama thought I was losing interest in the Bible, and it was easier to let her think that.

In other churches, homosexuality has long been tolerated  so long as no one spoke of it. And a few years ago, the head of the denomination to which I belong, the National Baptist Convention U.S.A., was caught not only embezzling millions of dollars from the church but carrying on adulterous affairs with several women. If so much money wasn’t involved, I daresay he’d have been allowed to continue his sexual misbehavior.

When consenting adults are involved, that’s one thing. It may still be wrong in the eyes of churches, synagogues and mosques, but it is not the same thing as taking advantage of a child. And once the allegations have been made, the institutional response should not be to sweep everything under the rug and reassign the misbehaving cleric. That’s what too many Catholic churches have done, if the stories out of Boston and elsewhere are true.

I’m tired of people saying that one event or another is a wakeup call, as they are saying about this avalanche of abuse cases. The church should never have been asleep at the switch this long  and neither should law enforcement.

Now New York prosecutors and Gov. George Pataki are saying the law should be changed so religious institutions are not exempt from the requirement to report allegations of sexual abuse. That, when you think about it, is the least they can do. It would be but a beginning of coming clean and protecting the children.

 E.R. Shipp’s e-mail address is eshipp2002@hotmail.com.