Personal knowledge of accusations is still hearsay--he says that he heard personally the accusations made by others. He does not claim first-hand knowledge of the alleged actions. And he clearly has an axe to grind, which right away should raise a caution flag in the mind of anyone assessing his accusations. Detraction, calumny, libel are still on the books as serious sins.
Yes, we should wait for evidence and withhold judgment. But that's exactly what most of the postings on this thread were not doing. And that's wrong.
Dear Dionysiusdecordealcis,
In that he's filed a lawsuit and made these claims in his official filing, if the claims can be borne out in court, it will have to be without the use of hearsay. Thus, I'm making a certain leap of logic here, I admit. I'm willing to give Fr. Hoatson, and his lawyer, the benefit of the doubt that they would not make potentially libelous charges without evidence that can be presented in a court of law. That'd generally exclude hearsay, and require that Fr. Hoatson was either a direct victim of these actions, a physical witness to them, or had hard evidence of their occurence (i.e., incriminating photographs, tape recordings, etc.).
However, all that that benefit of the doubt gets him, in my view, is serious consideration of his allegations. Certainly, to judge any of these bishops guilty of the accusations, there must be real, persuasive evidence that the allegations are true. I agree 100% that we must, MUST withhold judgment, or be guilty of rash judgment.
I guess I'm coming at this from a somewhat different direction. In the past, when allegations have been made that were clearly hearsay, or from anonymous sources, or where folks weren't willing to put their money where their mouth is, and say it under oath, I've considered the allegations little more than gossip. And pointed that out on these threads. And been subject to significant amounts of criticism for that view.
So, I think we're in full agreement.
I only point out that this priest's allegations are actually worthy of serious consideration, in contrast to allegations made by others previously, which were not worthy of any consideration, as they rose only to the level of gossip.
sitetest