Posted on 02/21/2015 3:22:21 PM PST by Gamecock
A Roman Catholic priest who secretly married has been removed from his post as administrator of a prominent downtown church, The Oklahoman has learned.
Diane Clay, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, said Friday that Archbishop Paul S. Coakley removed the Rev. Dan Letourneau as administrator of St. Joseph Old Cathedral, 307 NW 4, for a personal matter that does not involve any illegal activity.
In a statement to The Oklahoman, Coakley said he learned about Letourneau’s marriage after removing him from his post.
“After I removed Father Dan Letourneau from his assignment at St. Joseph Old Cathedral on Tuesday, it came to my attention that he had recently entered into a civil marriage,” Coakley said.
“This is obviously a very serious violation of the commitments, obligations and duties of priesthood. I deeply regret his decision and the impact this has had on the Catholic community and the people he has served. I will continue to pray for Dan and for those who have been hurt by his actions.”
Roman Catholic priests take a vow of celibacy upon joining the priesthood and are forbidden to marry.
In a 2013 study conducted by the Pew Research Center, nearly six in 10 of American Catholics said they favor allowing priests to get married.
According to Comanche County District Court records, Letourneau, 57, obtained a marriage license in Lawton and paid for a judge to perform his marriage to Melinda Anne Rivera Harlow in November.
Letourneau, a native of Ponca City, remains a priest until an official process is completed, “but may not exercise his priestly ministry,” Clay said Friday.
Neither Letourneau nor his wife could be reached for comment.
Clay said Letourneau was serving as administrator of St. Joseph Old Cathedral because of the death last year of the previous pastor, the Rev. Bruce Natsuhara. Coakley named a new pastor of the downtown parish Wednesday.
Parishioners learned about Letourneau’s removal during Ash Wednesday services, when a letter from Coakley was read announcing the change.
Letourneau’s previous service to the archdiocese included serving as associate pastor at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church of Edmond.
Clay said Coakley appointed the Rev. Price Oswalt as pastor of St. Joseph Old Cathedral, effective March 3. The Rev. George Parackal, a St. Anthony Hospital chaplain, will serve as administrator until Oswalt arrives.
Oswalt currently serves as pastor of St. Wenceslaus Church in Prague and previously served as rector for the National Shrine for the Infant Jesus of Prague in Prague.
Why not just move him to another parish?
Letourneau...Hmmm, where have I seen that French-Canadian surname most recently? Oh yes. Could this ‘secretly married priest’ some how be related to the school teacher who went to jail for dating and bedding her own junior high school student, and later having his babies? One can only wonder.
Am I the only one who’s relieved he married a woman?
You wann'a frenchman to be celebate ?
Yep, that should influence the Archbishop.
We don’t know if he married a woman, only that there is a “wife” which could mean anything by today’s definition.
What was the reason he was removed since it wasn’t known until afterward that he was married?
No, he was wrong, but at least his failing was for a woman.
It’s a woman (almost certainly).
“Melinda Anne Rivera Harlow”
Interestingly, he had a judge marry them, this guy only gets more troubling.
Which leaves us guessing as to why the Bishop removed him from his post.
I highly suspect it was a gay marriage.
“Melinda Anne Rivera Harlow”
How many tines has she been married?
More likely scenario: Bishop finds out he's living with a woman, calls him in to tell him he's removed from the post, and the priest says 'don't worry - we're married'.
Well, he couldn’t get married at all and remain a priest. Clearly, he was hiding it.
We had a priest in a parish I lived in years ago in PA who had secretly married a woman, a nurse he had met while he was hospitalized for some kind of back or knee problem. He married her across the state line in Ohio, and they actually lived not too far from the rectory...you could never reach him there, oddly enough, and one of the things that finally provoked his discovery was the fact that people who called him for emergency hospital visits could never get in touch with him, and in one case the patient died without the last rites because the priest was off at his other home.
At that point, someone came forward and said that he didn’t live at the rectory, but that he was married and lived elsewhere. The bishop called him in. Still, he denied it, even though the parish council members came to him as a group and asked him if the rumor was true. If it was, they weren’t going to do anything but simply leave it to the bishop, and if he told them it was not, they were going to defend him. He told them it was not true.
They went to the bishop in a group, prepared to defend this worthless creature, and the bishop showed them a copy of the marriage certificate from Ohio.
He was cynical and self-centered and I simply have no respect for somebody like that. He knew what the rules were. If you don’t want to abide by them, leave.
But the worst thing was that he had lied to the people, and many of them left the Church at that point.
“I highly suspect it was a gay marriage.”
Why would that be?
Straight marriage, as well as gay, would be a violation of his vows and grounds for removal. The facts speak for themselves without making up more.
Violating your vow of chastity with a woman must be a far worse offense than violating it with an underage boy.
Wait.....
What????
Don’t FRoman Catholics tell us all the time that priests are allowed to marry?
Maybe this bishop didn’t get the FR memo.....
So it seems........
Apparently so!
Heck, just transfer him from the Roman Rite to the Eastern Rite and its all good! (Would have been more honest if he had figured that out and done it before the wedding though.)
If he is looking for a parish I’m certain his wife will be happy to relocate to Syria with him.
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