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TV commentator asks who stole Bishop's reputation Now that it appears Bishop Howard Hubbard has been cleared, questions must be asked. One is whether the Bishop was the victim of a conspiratorial witch hunt engineered by people who just did not like him or his liberal policies. Am I the only one who heard ugly rumors long before they were made public -- often from angry, Stone-Age Catholics? The fact is Bishop Hubbard has not been proved innocent of charges. It appears most convincingly that he always was innocent. And what he went through would have been humiliating for any of us. Imagine -- the head of a religious organization submitting to the indignity of a lie detector test, and scouring of personal files and e-mail! As one cleric said on our air, the most egregious insult is that the Bishop has been victimized by a theft -- the theft of his good name. Can any investigation thoroughly cleanse a reputation unjustly abused? How long will it be before you hear Bishop Howard Hubbard's name without associating it with awful allegations? "Reputation, reputation, it is the immortal part of me," moans Cassius in "Othello," after his name was unjustly smeared. On earth, the immortal part of Bishop Hubbard has, in part, been stolen. Can it ever be fully restored? If not, does anyone out there have a guilty conscience? (Dan Dinicola is a commentator for WRGB-TV, channel 6. This commentary was delivered on television on June 28. It is reprinted with permission.) (7/1/04) |