Remember though that there is a difference between not having the allegations against you proven, and reasonably proving that you're innocent of them.
Fr. Gruber’s elliptical answers to the police do not represent sufficient evidence to prove that he's done something wrong, but they also tell against the proposition that he is entirely innocent, as well.
The priest has a right to due process. I believe that in canonical proceedings, folks have a right not to be compelled to testify against themselves. This right must be respected, and should not lead to an assumption of guilt.
Nonetheless, Fr. Gruber apparently is involved in the formation of young folks, including prospective priests. This is a privilege, not a right. To maintain this privilege, Fr. Gruber will have to go beyond merely obtaining a judgment that guilt isn't proven. He will have to also make a reasonable demonstration of his actual innocence, which means in part, not giving elliptical answers to questions about whether or not he used the computer to view child porn.
It's much the same for those of us who are LAITY and wish to serve in analogous roles. It doesn't take a formal criminal conviction to get one barred from many service roles.
sitetest
this article has been pulled from CNA, should probably be deleted here as well. CNA should’ve known better than to have mentioned the Apostolic Signatura, which likes to keep its involvement in individual cases more secretive so that it can more effectively and impartially impart justice.
Myself and many other students and former students are of the opinion that his evasive answers are meant to protect the seal of confession. The police report (available on the article “Protecting a Punished Professor” on the site of Inside Higher Education) says the police wanted to interview him alone, but he insisted upon the archabbot being present (we believe because he hoped the archabbot would note his evasion and understand there might be an issue of the seal of confession)
If he had knowledge of something on the computer from someone else (and I can attest, tons of students were always using that computer, and many many students often sought him to confess to.. he pretty much always had a stole with him... only place he probably didn’t carry one with him would be when he went plain-clothes to American Anthropological Association conferences to present papers), his answers to the questions make perfect sense.
There are over 1100 students, former students, and alumni supporting him in the facebook group “Friends of Father Mark”... and the group just keeps growing (it’s only existed for a few days)
anyway, I believe it would be the wish of CNA, and probably of the Apostolic Signatura itself, that the article be deleted here as well.