Two months ago, the Archdiocese of New Orleans and Catholic Charities announced they would spend $5.182 million to help emotionally scarred individuals from the West Bank.This wasn’t an act of charity.In the ’50s and ’60s, children from dysfunctional families were brought to Madonna Manor and Hope Haven. While there, they were exposed to the image of dysfunction. Four-year-old children were told they were unloved and worthless, nuns dealt harsh beatings and priests, nuns and staff members sexually humiliated and abused the children they told the world they were helping.After announcing the settlement, Archbishop Gregory Aymond said, “The Catholic Church, and I personally, remain very sorry for the pain and anguish suffered by children who have been sexually abused in the past … We are committed to the healing of those who have been abused.”I certainly hope he was being honest, but his behavior suggests otherwise. This apology only appeared after four years of legal wrangling and, according to some plaintiffs, attempts to suppress evidence.As a young child, after hearing Stegosauruses might have had a second brain in their tail, I asked my aunt why we had only one brain instead of many spread throughout the body. It didn’t seem fair that the legs had to ask the head for permission to run away from a fire.She could have given a biological answer. She could have spoken abstractly about when centralization is and isn’t a good idea. She could have simply said, “I don’t know.”Instead she told me God had made the world the way it is, and it wasn’t my place to question it.I was later told the universe is split into two categories: the sacred and the profane. George Carlin’s seven dirty words are profane things of the world. Tiger Woods’ marriage is a sacred diplomat from a realm beyond the scope of reason.I was told the Catholic Church was a sacred, holy institution worthy of my respect.This same Catholic Church allegedly kept justice from being served after its representatives abused the trust of children.If only this were an isolated incident.According to Father Tom Doyle, a former Vatican lawyer, “When abusive priests are discovered, the response has been not to investigate and prosecute but to move them from one place to another. So there’s total disregard for the victims and for the fact that you are going to have a whole new crop of victims in the next place. This is happening all over the world.”This policy was based on a document called Crimen Sollicitationis that was updated in 2001 by one Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He became pope in 2005, and former President George Bush granted him diplomatic immunity from any legal reprecussions of his actions.If this is sanctity, I’ll take the profane.It seems self-evident sanctity and profanity aren’t objective states. Sanctity is nothing more than a conceptual shield limiting the honest investigations of curious minds.This semester, I’ve striven to shatter sanctity’s spell so we can better understand the universe. If we wish to pursue truth, we should begin by questioning the faith, culture and country we were born in.It may be the case we should give respect to organic food, patriotism, the university system, circumcision, unconditional love or any of the other topics I discussed this semester.But this respect should only come after curious questioning proves they are worthy of our intellectual support.I had a lot of fun playing devil’s advocate this semester, and I plan on seeing you again next year.Let’s build a culture that assumes nothing is sacred. If the Catholic Church had been under more careful scrutiny in the ’50s and ’60s, innocent children might have been protected.A sacred cow by any other name would still taste as juicy.Daniel Morgan is a 21-year-old economics senior from Baton Rouge, LA. Follow him on       Twitter @TDR_dmorgan. 
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