Cardinal Removes Pastor Who Admitted to Relationships With Young Girls

TBO.com ^ | 3/21/02 | Derrill Holly

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

A prominent Roman Catholic priest has been suspended after admitting he might have "stepped over the line" with at least one teen-age girl.

Monsignor Russell Dillard was put on administrative leave and police were informed after two women contended in a complaint to the Washington Archdiocese that he had engaged in sexual misconduct with them over a five-year period ending in 1984.

"He admitted that there was a physical relationship; he doesn't characterize it as sexual abuse," Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick said in an interview Thursday.

Dillard, 54, has spent his entire career as a priest in Washington. The conduct in question occurred while he was associate pastor of Saint Anthony's Catholic Church in Northeast Washington. Since 1990 he has served as pastor of Saint Augustine Church, a parish attended by Mayor Anthony A. Williams, who has consulted Dillard on social and religious issues affecting the city.

"My heart and my prayers go out to the people who have come forward," said McCarrick. "I can think of almost nothing more painful than to learn a priest may have violated the trust placed in him in this way."

In light of recent revelations involving other Catholic clergy, McCarrick urged anyone else who feels victimized to come forward.

"We want to make sure that we're taking care of these people," said McCarrick.

Dillard told WUSA-TV he had a relationship with one girl and that there was kissing.

"I know that this young woman feels hurt, and that I have stepped, crossed over a line that though it did not lead to anything that was untoward, anything sexual, anything like that, I have to take responsibility for that," Dillard said. He likened his relationship with the woman to that of "father-daughter."

McCarrick said this was the first time he had suspended a member of the clergy amid allegations of sexual misconduct since taking over his current post 14 months ago but that he had taken similar steps four or five times during his career as a bishop.

For 16 years before coming to Washington, he was archbishop in Newark, N.J., and before that he was bishop in Metuchen, N.J.

[Askel5]

The press has been remiss in not diluting the overwhelmingly homosexual nature of the ensuing scandal.

Kissing's a start.

[sinkspur]

Don't these guys ever hit on adults? When I was in seminary, there were "groupies" who would come to Mass at the seminary every Sunday, then hang around just for the chance to talk to a seminarian.

They were really creepy.

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Just some thoughts on this.

There's a book called The Confessional by "?somebodyhelpme?" Chiniquy. I don't know when it was written, though I'd guess it's been out there for at least 10 - 15 years. From what I remember and from what we're starting to hear, it sounds like he was more accurate than many give him credit for being.

This has to be hitting close to home for a lot of people - though I wonder if we're watching a modern-day "witch hunt"?

[Mike Fieschko]

There's a book called The Confessional by "?somebodyhelpme?" Chiniquy. I don't know when it was written, though I'd guess it's been out there for at least 10 - 15 years. From what I remember and from what we're starting to hear, it sounds like he was more accurate than many give him credit for being.

It was written around 1875, according to this web site.

It seems as if Chiniquiy was writing of his own personal crimes.

[Contra]

This sounds suspicious to me because the child in question is a girl not a boy. I think this guy can use that as a defense, something like, "come on man, I'm a priest, do you really believe I'd be hitting on some young girl?"