In his Oct. 23 letter “Mistakes should not tarnish an organization’s overall value,” Mark W. Cripps questioned the “value” of the Globe reporting on the sustained, systemic cover-up of sexual assault and molestation by the Boy Scouts of America, wondering why “a ven­er­a­ble in­sti­tu­tion cov­er­ing up the pres­ence of pe­dophiles within its or­ga­ni­za­tion” was worthy of front-page news. The mere fact that Cripps writes this letter with no irony is stunning.

Have the Boy Scouts done good for the country? Certainly; so have the Catholic Church and Penn State University. But when an organization engages in masking abuse and enabling rape, it must be held to account dramatically and forcefully. For decades the Boy Scouts kept secret files covering up molestation, including several Massachusetts cases, to preserve its image and reputation, in the process allowing for more sexual assault and devastation.