Daily beast doesn’t get that a priest removed from ministry is actually still a priest. Sacraments like ordination are indelible.
That said, he shouldn’t be on any assignments that even remotely have children there.
Agreed. Can’t believe he can be back working with children or adolescents in any capacity.
I thought that a priest could be laicized.
Priests can be laicized for serious offenses. He should have been given a choice between being defrocked or spending the rest of his life in a very strict monastery.
“That said, he shouldn’t be on any assignments that even remotely have children there.”
That said, he should be removed from the priesthood altogether. I’m all for forgiveness, but this is about protecting innocent people from a bad man who - even if he could change his behavior - can’t really be trusted ever again.
Upon conviction resulting from the plea bargain, he should have been laicized. Suspension inappropriate beyond that point. Light sentence presumably so he could be deported quickly. Wrong for the Church to leave him as clergy. Although, there is now a radical Leftist as its leader, so maybe rape & sodomy committed by priests are OK.
Sorry, you are so wrong. Ordinition is for life ... unless there are charges brought before a church court and a decision is made to “laicize’ the said preist.. aka, defrocking... that is permanent...
This article is a good example of why people hate ‘organized religion’and have little or no respect for the clergy in general. The ‘church’ as an institution is a greedy, corrupt, thing.. Many good people in it however.
That said, he shouldn’t be on any assignments that even remotely have children there.
I'm not HRC but I have stayed at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Bardstown. That would be a good place for a reprobate to work in the fields, sit in a cell and pray for the rest of his life.
And the Catholic church is irresponsible with that policy. It violates the Scripture they claim to have written.
God is clear that men with moral issues are NOT to be in positions of leadership in the church.
1 Corinthians 5 and passages in Timothy and Titus address that as well.