Posted on 07/02/2004 9:35:03 PM PDT by sockmonkey
Bishop James Timlin and others say the Rev. Christopher Clay was entitled to resume ministerial duties when no criminal charges resulted from a young man's accusations against him.
The former Diocese of Scranton bishop said he offered Clay local parish work in 2003 after a police investigation yielded no charges.
But that word apparently hasn't reached the Diocese of Forth Worth in Texas, where Clay this week was barred from saying Mass because church officials say they have no proof he's in good standing.
Clay until recently assisted his close friend, the Rev. Allan Hawkins, at St. Mary the Virgin Church in Arlington, Texas. In reaction to a Dallas Morning News article, Hawkins distributed a letter to his parishioners Wednesday.
Hawkins said he had contacted Timlin in 2003 "to make sure that there was no objection to my inviting Father Clay to assist us at St. Mary the Virgin." Timlin confirmed Thursday that he had no objections.
Diocese of Scranton spokeswoman Maria Orzel said this week that Clay was removed from active ministry after his name surfaced during an investigation into an allegation against two priests at the Society of St. John in Pike County.
Since February 2003, she said, Clay has been on leave from all ministerial activity in the diocese. She said the internal investigation is ongoing. Orzel could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Hawkins said in the letter that current Bishop Joseph Martino wrote to Clay in April to ask him of his "intentions regarding your future ministry." Hawkins said the inquiry would be absurd if Clay was under suspension.
Clay had been removed from his teaching job at Bishop Hafey High School in Hazle Township in 2002 after a young man made sexual misconduct allegations related to the facility in Monroe County. The accusations came during a deposition for a federal lawsuit against two other diocese priests.
Timlin said Thursday that the diocese felt it was unfair to prohibit Clay from resuming ministerial duties after police did not file charges. The young man who made the accusations has not sued Clay.
The bishop said he did not feel that the 2002 U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops policy applied to Clay once no criminal charges resulted. Church policy dictates that when sexual abuse is admitted or proven, a priest must be permanently removed from the ministry regardless of when the incident occurred.
"I was ready to assign him," Timlin said. The bishop offered Clay a position at St. Thomas More parish in Lake Ariel, Wayne County. By then, Clay had traveled to his home state of Texas to rest.
"Clay, who had been under a lot of stress, responded to Timlin that he was still suffering from some anxiety," said Clay's attorney, Greg Magarity, on Thursday. Magarity said Clay told Timlin in March 2003 that he wasn't ready to return to ministerial work.
Magarity remembers someone in a district attorney's office saying the statute of limitations had run out, which would have ended the investigation. Former Monroe County District Attorney Mark Pazuhanich had said in May 2002 that an investigation was ongoing.
But current Monroe County District Attorney E. David Christine Jr. said this week that the file Pazuhanich requested police send directly to Pazuhanich was missing and Christine's office had no knowledge of an investigation of Clay.
"I'm very sensitive to the victims in this case but I don't know that Clay's getting a fair shot here," Magarity said. "(Clay is) obviously not under restrictive ministry or they wouldn't ask him to take an assignment as assistant pastor."
Magarity said he has had trouble dealing with the Diocese of Scranton and getting information from officials about Clay's status.
Bonnie Adams, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7241.
Bump!
Salvation, if you could ping the Catholic list, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.
He may not be aware that that is a requirement, but it is.
Bump.
I don't dispute that Fr. Hawkins may have made an administrative error.
I am just saddened that at the 10th Anniversary of SMV, and the Anniversary of Rev. Clay's ordination as a Priest, the media spin, IMHO, was "pervert outed despite cover up by Priest Friend".
Like Siobhan has stated elsewhere with much more passion than I am presently capable of, the timing of the story seemed to me to bear the hoofprint of the Evil One all over it.
Yes, indeed. This was the timing of the demon.
Yes, Siobhan called Rod Dreher's integrity into question. Do you agree with her?
Listen, Hawkins could have stopped this entire deal had he just informed the diocese of Fort Worth that he had a priest serving in his parish that he had neglected to tell them about. Instead, he thinks a letter from ANOTHER bishop is all he needs. For some reason, Hawkins didn't think he owed Bishop Delaney the courtesy of informing him that a priest on leave from his home diocese was working in Fort Worth.
And Clay is a proven liar, having told two different stories to two different laymen, and for not coming completely clean with Hawkins.
Let's not brand Dreher or the reporter as the culprits here, when it's apparent that two priests were acting outside of Canon Law.
Ping.
You defend Rod Dreher's integrity while calling Michael Rose's into question. What was different here Deacon? You like one more than the other?
But his choices in this point up an incredible failure to grasp the basic responsibility one Catholic has for other Catholics within a worshipping community. Instead of giving this time to be thoroughly researched and worked through, Dreher turned this over to his employers and followed it up with a column so in the end his profession profits at the expense of the Catholics with whom he has worshipped.
He didn't call the Bishop. He didn't call the Chancellor. He didn't call the police. So much for really worrying about the welfare of children. Instead his paper makes a buck and everyone else is left to pick up the pieces.
Fr. Hawkins and Fr. Clay will pay for their failures here but it will be in the context of the firestorm created by Dreher and not because of the things themselves. The people of St. Mary the Virgin will suffer at a level that has to do with the choices Dreher made in dumping all of this into the press instead of taking this to the Chancellor in Fort Worth
Dreher spoke with Hawkins a full week before he turned any of this over to the reporter at the Dallas paper. He told him he was going to turn it over to her if Hawkins did nothing (this should have been Hawkins' first clue to call Fr. Wilson, the chancellor, and come clean).
Dreher has been far more involved in this sexual abuse issue than either you or I, and has seen it up close.
And the one thing he points out, time after time, is that when church officials were notified of a problem, nothing was done! Gullible laymen trusted their clergy to do something, and they did nothing.
Fr. Alan Hawkins had the opportunity to resolve this issue and he did not do it. For some reason, he felt he had no responsibility to inform the diocese of Fort Worth that a priest with a questionable background was serving within the diocese.
Dreher had no reason to call the police, and he could have gone to Wilson. I know Bob Wilson, and he would have shown Clay the door the minute he found out about this.
But Dreher doesn't know Bob Wilson. He had no idea Hawkins had hidden Clay in his parish. He might have reasonably assumed that Wilson, like so many chancery officials in the past, would pat him on the head and tell him "I'll take care of it." And, he might have reasonably assumed that, as in the past, nothing would happen.
No, Dreher acted the only way he could have here. Give Fr. Hawkins every opportunity to resolve this himself. If he refused to, then turn this over to a reporter, who would also give Hawkins the chance to resolve it.
The blame is squarely on the shoulders of Fr. Alan Hawkins. Perhaps he'll learn a valuable lesson from this, that he is, in fact, accountable to those whom he serves.
And, clerics will be trusted to do the right thing when they earn that trust.
That is absolute nonsense.
As a rule, I expect us to be on the opposite sides of the fence, but this one blows my mind.
Your spin on this is astounding. But it is an outright misrepresentation of the facts. This isn't about a Catholic trying to do the right thing. This is about journalists making a buck.
How Dreher can be in Dallas and not know the Chancellor and make this kind of supposition is ridiculous and absurd as a defense of his actions. What sort of reporter on the religious scandals of the Catholic Church who lives in Dallas does not know the Chancellors of the two local dioceses? Reason does not give Rod a pass on failing to do what a Catholic should have done. And his experience as a reporter demanded that he contact the Chancellor of Fort Worth. Your argument is baseless and absurd.
Now we come to the part that is truly rich. You don't have a clue what you are talking about here, but yet you march right into it .
I'm not going to argue with you, Siobhan. I read your summation on Mark Shea's blogspot, and I realize you can't back off your position.
The fact of the matter is that Fr. Alan Hawkins embarrassed himself and his parish by not seeking faculties from the Fort Worth diocese for Fr. Clay. He could have resolved all of this, after Dreher first confronted him, by picking up the phone and calling the Diocese of Scranton, as the DMN reporter did.
Tomorrow, he will have to stand in front of his parish and admit his mistake.
More presumptuous nonsense. I am crystal clear in my position. You would like to paint me as someone who "can't back off" but really would if she could. That was a clever "have you stopped beating your wife" kind of phrase, but it was total garbage nonetheless.
Tomorrow, Fr. Hawkins will do this but it will be in an artificial climate created by the Dallas Morning News through the agency of Rod Dreher.
I have to go to my Mom's to visit with out of towners who came for my Dad's funeral, but will contribute my .02 later.
Instead of directing your ire at Fr. Hawkins, who felt he could simply import a priest into the diocese of Fort Worth on his own authority, you admit he made a mistake, but somehow Rod Dreher is guilty of the greater sin for revealing the mistake.
Dreher did what St. Paul admonishes: if your brother is in the wrong, confront your brother. If he refuses you, then take it to the community.
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