While I was on vacation, I received an email from one of the parish staff, asking if the person described in a forwarded news article was a priest who had formerly been assigned to our parish. The gist of the news article was that the priest in question has been suspended because of a credible accusation of abuse of a minor. The suspension, and the alleged abuse which led to it, took place in a different diocese.
It was not immediately clear it was the same person, because there was no accompanying photo, and the newspaper account listed his full name. He is from Mexico, and folks of Hispanic heritage have more names than Anglos like me are accustomed to. When he was assigned to our parish, he went by a nickname, and only one of his surnames. But I was able to confirm it was one and the same guy by doing a quick search on bishopaccountability.org.
He was assigned for a few years to our parish. He was a reasonably friendly and outgoing person. But he was sort of strange. (But aren't many priests strange, one way or another?) His assignment at our parish spanned parts of the tenures of two different pastors. Neither pastor seemed to like him. (But don't priests often not get along with one another?) During his time at our parish, I never heard of him doing anything questionable with children or teens.
He left our parish abruptly - resigned without notice, packed up and left. I think the pastor was as surprised as everyone else. A few parishioners would ask me from time to time whatever happened to him. The official word from the archdiocese (or so I was told) was that he was on sabbatical. We had heard that he was on the west coast for a time. This news story is out of a diocese in Texas. So he has bounced around.
I don't want to give his name or provide links to news stories. It's just sort of a weird ending (I assume this is the end) to a rather weird stint of priestly ministry. Naturally, I'm worried about the possibility of his having victimized any kids or teens during his time in our parish. As I was out of town the last two weekends, I don't know whether our pastor said anything from the pulpit. I'll try to learn more.
Just off the top of my head, this is the fourth priest I've known who has been credibly accused.
Article in HuffPost about celebrity priests who have « disappeared ». He seems to think they have been ill- treated for some reason. I thought the name of the priest who wrote the article sounded familiar. Here he is - he disappeared himself from the RCC.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/missing-gone-or-just-elim_b_968201
Yeah, Fr. Alberto Cutie (author of the article) was ordained in the RC, and subsequently joined the ECUSA and hosts a radio show. He is married with children. Not quite sure why he thinks the celebrity priests he named have been ill treated, the ones whose names I recognized had either credible accusations or otherwise weren't living in accord with a priestly life.
DeleteI've only known one priest who was credibly accused. Actually what he was accused of was buying alcohol for a minor. Which often is an indication of an inappropriate relationship. I don't know if he is still in the priesthood, I'm guessing probably not.
ReplyDeleteWe had a priest in our parish a number of years ago who was in relationships with adult women who weren't parishioners and also had a drinking problem. Of course when this stuff came out he was under investigation, but none of this would have been a criminal offense. He left the priesthood rather abruptly, and we heard he had gotten married. Then we heard he had gotten divorced. Situations like this are why I'm somewhat skeptical that dropping the celibacy requirement is the solution to clergy recruitment problems. If your life is a hot mess it can be that way whether you're married or single.
However since I've only known these two instances of sketchy priests (over 72 years of being a Catholic) I have to conclude that most priests are good people, even though I have liked some better than others.
Yes, both celibates and married folk can be messed up. Celibacy is not the cause of pedophilia, but it sure provides good opportunities for pedophiles - as priests, they are authority figures with direct access to children and young teens who have been taught to obey “Father”, and the priesthood provides excellent cover for not dating or marrying. Dropping mandatory celibacy would also increase the pool of potential priests.This would very likely improve the caliber of the average priest ( candidates would be less likely to be accepted out of desperation to keep the seminary pipelines full): it would help with the ever increasing problems related to loneliness (often assuaged with a bottle), and it would mean priests live in the real world that most of their parishioners live in, facing the same kinds of financial, marital and parental stresses about which they are so often totally clueless. Based on what I read and hear from Catholic friends and family, a large percentage of the younger than 45-50 aged priests are little Napoleons, becoming pastors far too soon because of the shortage of priests, and ruling their little fiefdoms with an uber- conservative iron fist. Somehow other religious denominations and groups manage to support their clergy and their families. Yet the RCC can’t?
ReplyDeleteI'd be fine with married clergy, and I think we'd figure out a way to support them; as you say, other denominations do it.
DeleteAs for the younger conservative priests, they're not set in cement. In the early 60s my hometown had a newly ordained associate who was like that. I remember my mom saying, "The seminary made a priest of him, it's up to the rest of us to make a human being of him." And they did. The recipe was to respect him, be kind to him, but talk to him, and push back if you need to.
There was the altar cloth war; he took a yardstick and measured the length from the hem of the cloths to the floor. He said it wasn't according to regs (I never heard about altar cloth regs!). The church ladies pointed out that new cloths would cost money, and none of them had time to mess with alterations. They doubted if God would get mad about it. The subject got dropped. He grew up over time and served many years as pastor in several parishes, and was well liked.
People have been leaving by the tens of thousands every year during the last 30-40 years, and the arrival of the JPII/B16 priests on the scene are part of that. Most Vatican II era progressive priests are soon retiring, already retired or dead, so the majority of parish priests are of the Uber- conservative camp.
DeleteOne priest in the 1960s throwing off his authoritarian tendencies does not guarantee that the current generation of priests will do so also. In the meantime, before they see the light, thousands more will quietly disappear from the pews. The Uber- conservative Catholics ( the white folk who vote MAGA) will remain, sniffing about how “ liberalism” has destroyed the church. If only they would all bring back Latin, mandate head coverings for women, keep women at home raising kids, and promote piety ( instead of spirituality), all would be well they think. They don’t want progressives in their parishes anyway. But since the loss of so many Catholics has resulted in budgetary problems, closing and merging parishes, closing schools etc, and because it bothers the professional church types like Jim and you and your husband, it would seem that figuring how to stop the outflow might be something that would be advisable if refilling the pews is really a concern.
We can't stop the outflow if we can't get past this "us vs them" mentality. Part of it is trying to see one another as children of God even if we don't agree about everything.
DeleteI suspect that the trend will continue. Progressives are being driven from the pews at an increasing pace it seems. The Nones continue to increase their numbers as a result.
DeleteIntellectually, many can look at others as Gods children also, but only from a healthy distance - still can’t stand to spend time with them. After all, when one truly believes that they are destroying the country, or ignoring the gospels in Sunday homilies, why stay in the pews just to get mad? God might forgive them, but we weak human beings have a harder time if confronted with their views on a regular basis. Better to keep away in order to see them as being children of God and trying to forgive them, instead of seeing them as folk who are blind to what Jesus taught.
I left my parish of 30 years when the first JPII/B16 type took over as pastor. I was spending all the time after the homily arguing with the priest in my head. Not really a spiritual experience. I know some who try several parishes, before finally giving up. I left the second parish when I realized that staying was hypocritical. I occasionally thought of returning because of the Social Justice work I was part of there. But the pastor there retired, replaced by a very conservative younger priest, so no hope at all of someone like me returning. This has happened throughout the country. I had noticed years ago that GenX Catholics were more conservative than my generation of boomers, and even more conservative than the generation behind them ( millennials?)p, according to the studies done by William D’Antonio and his colleagues at Catholic University.. So the article at America wondering why so many GenXers haven’t returned to mass after the pandemic was interesting to me. I especially liked Michael Leach’s comments- I’ve loved his soul- seeking articles on spirituality at NCRonline.
About whether young conservative priests will change as time goes on, I don't know. But a lot of times people do change over time. I was more conservative as a young person than I am now. I think back then I just absorbed my parents' thinking, then later examined it more critically. I suppose a lot depends on the person, and what experiences they have.
DeleteThe leading edge cohort of JPII/B16 priests are around 50 now, with little evidence that many of them have changed. I was very conservative politically until my 50s. I changed. Nobody else in my family changed though, nor have any of my close friends who were indoctrinated into conservative politics. I was never conservative in Catholicism though. I was ready to walk by the time I was 19. Long conversations about Vatican II with my theology professor ( a young priest) convinced me to stay. But the popes from Paul VI on decided to abandon the progressive insights gained during the VII years. Including ignoring the recommendation( by an overwhelming vote of the bishops on the Commission) to change the teaching on birth control and the burying of the Vatican study on whether or not scripture supports the ban on ordaining women ( it doesn’t). I didn’t much care about the liturgical changes one way or another but I did like having mass in English, even though I knew Latin quite well. Liturgy isn’t among my main concerns and never has been. I liked the teachings of VII about the laity being the People of God, and the philosophy underlying the liturgy changes - that the congregation would be participants rather than an audience for the show on the altar - but the minutiae was of little interest.
DeleteI wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for the current generation of younger priests to see the light. I suspect that many decided to become priests by being attracted to the three Ps- prestige, power and perks- than because they want to serve the people of God. The formal studies done on this ( attitudes about the servant leader model) reveal this attitude quite clearly.
That priest I mentioned earlier pretty much did a 180 with Vatican II, he was very on board with the social justice teachings.
DeleteIt was funny, my mom was very conservative politically, but she was happy when they started having Mass facing the congregation, and in English. She was a convert and had no background in Latin. Dad was another story, he missed the Latin because he had grown up with it.
I grew up with Latin too. I was in college when it changed to the vernacular. I never missed the Latin.
DeleteI agree with Anne that the things don't look hopeful for the management of the Church. Many V2 things that could have blossomed did not. Were actively squelched by JPII. But, nevertheless, there are many powerful spiritual voices in the Church. So I remain. The lack of perfection, even 90% imperfection, is not enough to deter me. Not that I rank with the OT prophets, but didn't they criticize Israel most vehemently and remain in Israel nonetheless? Voices crying in the wilderness, they are around today, in the Church, in the USA, in the capitalist world system. I guess my biggest worry is not about what happens in the Church and the world, but what I am doing with respect to what I should be doing. There's not as much of me left as there used to be.
DeleteYes, some will remain to try to be the voices in the wilderness. But figuring out what each of us should be doing, and doing it, bears little relationship to belonging to the institutional church. People trying to refill the pews are constantly harping on the need to be with a large community at mass and in a parish. But if the experience of the community in the parish just drags one down, is depressing at best and anger inducing at worst, then attempting to push people into pews on the grounds that they “need” to be part of the parish community is doomed to failure. Some might be able to continue with only 10% positives. I am not one of those people., And it’s clear that millions of other formerly active Catholics aren’t either.
DeleteThe most problematic and destructive institution of which I'm a part is the United States of America and I'm not sure as of yet what to do about that. If the millions of ex-Catholics were working for justice and helping the suffering, I'd want everybody to leave. But the energy and the answers aren't out there, as far as I can see.
DeleteI personally do not know any priests that have been accused. Since Jim knows four and Katherine knows two, it looks like the closer one is to the clergy the more likely one is to know about these things. Small simple size, of course.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a leader in the local Voice of the Faithful, most of the people there did know accused priests. And we had very creditable but second-hand information that there were a lot more than the diocese ever admitted. There was a local grand jury investigation which resulted in only a few recent cases; most case were old and the statute of limitations had run out. The prosecutor had the grand jury records sealed; perhaps as a favor to the diocese? The full story has never come out; it would be at least as bad as Boston. One of our auxiliary bishops, a lawyer in canon and civil law was the mastermind behind the strategies to minimize exposure. He advised sending all the documents to the apostolic delegation so they would be subject to diplomatic immunity.
The full story has never come out; it would be at least as bad as Boston. One of our auxiliary bishops, a lawyer in canon and civil law was the mastermind behind the strategies to minimize exposure
DeleteThe John Jay report was not of a lot of use since the bishops did not open the files to the investigators. They gave them the documents they wanted them to see. I recall that the first head of the group tasked by the bishops to oversee the investigation quit after a year and described working with the bishops as being like working with the Mafia. So it was not surprising that the % of priest abusers was found to be 4% - just like in the general population. But, once records were subpoenaed in Boston and a few other places, before they could be destroyed, it turned out that the rate of abusers was double or more than the John Jay report average.
With regard to church reform, with Anne I am skeptical that the current priests and bishops will change. That means that only new personnel e.g., married priests and women deacons, have a chance to reverse the exodus of Catholics from the pews. Even then, I suspect that most of those chosen early to be married priests will be safe deacons, and safe women pastoral associates.
ReplyDeleteSome progressive bishops may ordain women religious as deacons and send them around to parishes to preach. That could be the beginning of real change. Imagine some of our conservative young priests having to sit and listen to some of our progressive women religious preach! I suspect they would be the only preachers who would likely attract Catholics back (and perhaps even non-Catholics). Women religious have good reputations among these people.
I am not interested in having dialog with conservative Catholics if that means that we ignore our differences just to be nice. But I would enjoy conversations after Mass if a woman religious did the preaching. We must recognize that all the progressive women religious as just as much the church as are bishops and priests.
I do not think that pastors have to be socially progressive in order for Catholic laity to do social justice. There are plenty of opportunities to do that outside our parishes, and even Catholic institutions. Bishops and pastors need to recognize that much of our witnessing of the Gospel is outside the parishes. The American Church has followed too much the Congregational model in locating too much of Catholic life within the parishes.
Yes, the nuns are generally well liked and respected. They have been listening to, and ‘ accompanying “, people for a very long time - decades before Francis came along.
DeleteI don't think the solutions for what ails the church lie in being more theologically conservative or theologically liberal. There should be ample space under the big tent for both, plus everyone in between.
ReplyDeleteI think what we need to do is to call people to live more deeply with Jesus. To prioritize our citizenship in heaven over our citizenship on earth. And to live lives that are transparent to the light of Christ.
Jim, I think you are right that we need to prioritize our citizenship in heaven over our citizenship on earth, and the need for the church to be a big tent.
DeletePeople can live more deeply with Jesus without being in a parish. Obviously that’s been the trend for a long time now, and it will very likely continue. Those who can’t do it alone or with a small group of spiritual companions, or don’t want to, may stay in the pews, but they will continue to be outnumbered by the leavers. Facing reality means acknowledging that many are driven out by the increasingly conservative clergy and their like- minded congregations. Conservative in terms of church teachings, and conservative in terms of the politics and politicians they support. Hoping the church will become a big tent again seems to be just wishful thinking.
DeleteOf the four priests I've known, two were instructors in the archdiocese's diaconate formation program. It's possible that, by the time Therese and I were in their classes, both of them had accumulated records of what, today, we would call credible accusations, and they had been steered into diaconate formation because it was a ministry setting where they wouldn't encounter children. This was (just) before the Dallas Charter reforms were implemented, so the programs and processes we have today weren't in place across the American church then. Chicago was possibly a bit ahead of the curve in those days, but I don't think it had adopted a zero-tolerance policy by then. We certainly weren't informed that they had accusations; that all came to light afterward.
ReplyDeleteThe third was our parish's pastor from my high school days. This was in a different diocese. He was well-loved by many parishioners. I think, in retrospect, he was one of the truly bad guys who had the knack of bamboozling a lot of parents while crossing lines with kids that never should even be approached. Most of my siblings attended the grade school of that parish while he was pastor (I didn't; we moved to that town just before my freshman year of high school). I don't think they were victimized.
And now this guy. His diocese-hopping, and his personality being a little "off", are red flags. But unless/until an accusation is made, I think a lot of dioceses are so desperate for priests that, if the record comes back clean, they'll give these "travelers" a chance.
Btw, our parish had an abuser back in the late 1970s. He was spectacularly bad. Divided the parish, ruined some lives. It was all before my time.
There are a lot of priests from foreign countries doing ministry in the US now. Most of them are good guys, some come here for a few years to raise money for schools or hospitals back home. But sometimes there are problems. It's harder to do a background check if they're from overseas. There was a pretty bad situation a few years back in my hometown's diocese with one of those priests.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAa number of credible theories have been advanced as to how the church ended up with abusive priests. In my view, the primary blame belongs to the abusers themselves; they surely are responsible for their sins. We can also fault the institution for failing to recognize the grievous harm the abusers were causing; for prioritizing the preservation of the church's reputation and the avoidance of liability over the protection and well-being of minors; for pursuing misbegotten theories of rehabilitation in which a relatively short stint in rehab was thought to be enough to "cure" an offending priest; and in general for prioritizing priests over victims (aided and abetted by a misunderstanding of the theology that a bishop should be as a father to his priests).
ReplyDeleteProbably we can also fault seminaries for not acting more decisively when "red flag" seminarian behavior came to light; and perhaps for inadequately preparing seminarians to interact in a mature way with parishioners and others to whom they're sexually attracted. In my view, at least some of that is rooted in admitting young men to seminaries when they were very young - too young to be fully aware of their own sexuality.
But today, I think the biggest problem, far and away, is the shortage of priests. It leads parishes and dioceses to take chances on guys who never should have been ordained, and who pretty clearly don't belong in ministry.
I think this guy who is the subject of my post is likely to be a case in point. (I hedge a bit because I don't know his seminary record.
It used to be that so-called minor seminaries admitted high school kids to study for the priesthood. I don't think that is the case any more, which is a good thing.
DeleteUnfortunately it is probably the case that the shortage of priests leads seminaries to overlook possible red flags on some candidates. One hopes they aren't tempted to take everyone with a pulse who walks through the door
Jim, the brother of one of my closest friends is a psychologist . He’s not Catholic ( raised Orthodox). He was on a contract to examine candidates for a religious order and advise the order about whether or not the candidate was a good risk. He recommended against many candidates for multiple reasons, including general maturity and sexual maturity - would they be able to be successful as celibates. He told his sister , my friend, that his recommendations were almost always ignored. He believed it was because the order felt that they couldn’t afford to be picky or they would be shutting down sooner rather than later. Her brother wasn’t a bit surprised by the extent of the sex abuse scandal. He was quite sure that the order he worked for wasn’t alone in ignoring the red flags. My brother went to a junior seminary when he was 14. He didn’t really want to be a priest, he was just trying to get away from his (our) unhappy home. He was home by thanksgiving. He didn’t tell us, his sibs, that one of the priests was trying to seduce him there. He didn’t mention it until he was in his 60s. He was already well over 6’ tall at 14 and he was able to convince the priest/ teacher not to back off and not try anything. He stopped going to mass as soon as he graduated from high school and never returned. He’s now 82. His wife was raised Methodist. Their sons were never taken to church.
DeleteAnne, I don't think I had known that one of your brothers was briefly a seminarian. I am so sorry he was abused. I wish I could do something to help him heal.
DeleteRegarding your friend's brother: it's maddening that his recommendations were ignored. One wonders why the order retained him. You'd think his recommendations would be pretty damning should opposing counsel obtain them via discovery.
As to why consultants are retained, often corporations and workplaces bring them in. Sometimes it seems like their main objective is to cover their behinds rather than learn anything. Of course if they proceed to ignore the recommendations, then they have defeated that purpose.
DeleteAnother reason they are brought in is because the corporation is facing hard or unpopular things, such as layoffs. Then they can blame it on the consultants. But really no one is fooled.
Dirty little secret in church affairs, (usually at the diocesan level), consultants are sometimes brought in. But quietly everyone says that it is a waste of time and money; they know what they have to do (such as merge parishes), just do it, and try to minimize the damage and be honest about the timeline.
Jim, my brother would have walked away from the church once away from our mother ven if that priest hadn’t tried to seduce him. He was not religious, but had been for Ed to be by attending a Catholic school and having a devout Irish Catholic mom. I was 7 when he went to the seminary and, young as I was, I was shocked because I knew he wasn’t the slightest bit religious. I didn’t know then that he was trying to escape. I had thought that our overly devout mother had pushed him into it. Didn’t learn the true story until more than 40 years later. At 82 he and his wife are suddenly adding “ we”0’ll keep you in our prayers “ to emails to family members dealing with health issues. They sent photos from inside a Lutheran church at Easter. Maybe they see the horizon too clearly now and have decided to make friends with church. One of their sons married a Catholic and those grandkids are Catholic - schools and all. They also have two Jewish granddaughters from their youngest sons first marriage. They went to a Jewish day school, and have had their bat mitzvahs. Three other grandchildren in Utah but I know nothing about the religious habits of that family. But they aren’t Mormon.
DeleteKatherine, I suspect that you are right about why the psychologist was hired - KYA.
Anne, it sounds like after a lot of time and distance has passed, that your brother and family have found their own spiritual paths.
DeletePRAYER please. My husband is in I u with a broken back after falling off a ladder. They will operate tomorrow . He can’t move his legs
ReplyDeleteI'll pray for him and you, Anne. Very sorry to hear this.
DeletePrayers ascending! I am so sorry to hear that!
DeleteOur prayers are with you both.
DeleteMy husband came through his 5 hour surgery ok. He can’t talk yet but he grabs my hand and there are tears in his eyes. He understands now that he will never walk again . My heart is so filled with gratitude that I still have him. But it broke again tonight as he clung to my hand with tears In his eyes. We’ve been told that the 48 hours after the surgery are very hard because of pain and weaning off the meds. But the hardest for him will be the emotional pain of this loss - the most active man I’ve ever known. An athlete, still exercising at 82,:able to walk miles. And that’s the hardest for me. I am happy to take care of him, push a wheelchair wherever he wants to go.,. But seeing his grief at his loss - now that he realizes that the feeling in his legs will never come back - is beyond my words to explain. Pray for us as we start walking this new path.
DeleteAnne,
DeleteWhere are you now? In D.C. or on the West coast? Will you children be able to help you?
It is ironic that you were just talking about your traveling. This is bound to have a great effect on your mobility as well.
At 81 my withdrawal from mobility has been slow, first the walking stick about a decade ago and more recently the greater use of a four-wheel mobility aid. In both cases I sought out the aids as means of keeping up my activity level up rather than allowing my physical and mental activity to deteriorate. Just this past summer I spent about six weeks in physical therapy acquiring all the exercises especially muscle training that will help resist any further decline in my mobility. Fortunately, despite ten years now of feeling like I am walking on pontoon boat docks, I am able to manage my imbalance sensations very well and keep from falling. I am conscious of being just one fall away from living a much more impaired life.
How is your husband in regard to social and intellectually activities that might compensate for his inability to move around as much? I figure that as long as I am able to use a computer and have my sight and hearing that I will still be able to have an enjoyable life even if I don’t go beyond the edges of my property. Of course, my ability to have an enjoyable life has been greatly increased in the past five years by Betty’s company. We watch out for each other and encourage each other when we have bad days with our various health problems.
Anne, thanks for the update. I am glad he made it through the surgery. But I am so sorry about the news that he won't be able to walk. I was hoping that the surgery would restore movement in his legs but apparently that didn't happen. That is so hard. My prayers remain with you. I hope you have friends or family available to be with you.
DeleteAnne, I am so sorry! - both for him and for you. I'll continue to pray for both of you.
DeleteHe’s at a very dangerous point in recovery because he can’t cough or breathe well enough. They may have to put him on a ventilator.
DeleteI will continue to hold him and you in prayer. Very scary situation.
DeleteThank you all. I think the prayers of you and others are helping.He’s improving slowly. Very but in the right direction. Getting through If he can get through this crisis, and live, a wheelchair life seems like a glorious hope. Still dangerous, still on the cusp, but I’m clinging to hope.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that he's doing a little better!
DeleteThanks for the update. Keep us apprised, Anne.
DeleteThanks for news. Keep us informed. Betty spent 30 years working in a hospital as a medical technician. So, she knows a lot about these things not just professionally but also personally.
DeleteBig setback today.
DeleteSending hugs...
Delete