Rocker Tom Petty was the voice of a generation of teens during the late 70s and early 80s. After a profitable career with his group “The Heartbreakers”, Petty faded away from the public eye as his record sales waned. By the late 80s, he was again on top of the charts as part of a group of Rock ‘n’ Roll legends now turned has-beens called “The Travelling Wilbury Band” which featured ex-Beatle George Harrison, former ELO lead vocalist Jeff Lynne, and 50s icon & singer Roy Orbison. The super group opened up a new generation of teens to Petty who used the group to launch a successful solo career.
Now, he has a new recording out called “Playing Dumb”. The song is critical of the Roman Catholic Church for the ongoing pedophile scandal where priests from the United States, Ireland, England, Germany, Mexico, South America, etc. have been accused of molesting children, often young boys, under the cover of their priesthood service. Often times the scandals were kept secret by top Catholic leadership.
Petty is perplexed as to why anyone would support such an institution given the enormity of their child sex abuse scandal. He said if he were affiliated with a club that proved to be molesting children, he would withdraw from the club and withhold giving them financial support.
He openly questions why Catholics do not react the same way. For this reason, he stated that Christians are the least likely to understand Christ. Given that the Roman Catholic Church accounts for over one billion of the world’s Christians (which is most Christians), Petty does have a point.