It says more about the adults of the parish who support a man who lies to his bishop and thinks diocesan policies don't apply to his parish than it does to the man. If you think a bunch of eighth-graders who had already picked out their confirmation names made this sudden switch on their own, you're naive in the extreme.
Read this article carefully. And read the only quote from the priest: he's concerned about himself, when he put himself in the situation to begin with.
The Vatican won't touch this. Not in a thousand years.
Within the youth programs, we've been following other policies that are designed to protect all kids. The most effective has been to ensure that there are always two adults in the classroom. Up until the last couple of years, that's been difficult (not enough teachers). This year, every class has had 3 or 4 teachers.
When you consider that each grade has close to 500 kids participating, that's A LOT of teachers. The estimated # of volunteers at our church is close to 600. That's a lot of paperwork, too.
I have and all the related articles too. It sounds to me that the Bishop imposed a deadline and then acted 3 weeks before the deadline. How does that tag the priest for as disobedient? According to the parishioner (who knows more about this than any of us) all of the background checks have been completed BEFORE the deadline.
Each church operates with hundreds of volunteers these days. It requires 55 Eucharistic Ministers per weekend to serve all of the Masses at my church -- that means 200 volunteers for the month, not counting weekday Masses and visits to the bedridden. Then there are the CCD classes with at least 2 teachers per class, and the regular school classes, and the 5 choirs, and the lectors, and the cantors, groundskeepers, Parish Festival organizers, newsletter, bulletin, Parish Council, etc., etc. I think you get the picture. Of course some people do double and triple duty, but the volunteer staff still represents hundreds of people. As far as I know, NOBODY has had a background check. Father George wouldn't begin to have time -- he's the only priest on staff and is aided by one clerk in the office.
My daughter works as a Minister of Music and Liturgy in a Catholic Church in another state. Believe me, the politics and jealousies that go on between the hierarchy and the parish priests are just as brutal as any in Washington, DC. between the Democrats and the Republicans. It sounds like this CONSERVATIVE parish did not meet the demands of the Bishop; and it probably does not have anything at all to do with background checks, if reality was known.
A decade ago I lived in Washington State, and we were trying to build a new church. The Bishop wanted kneelers eliminated and moveable chairs in the sanctuary. The parish and the Bishop fought about this for at least five years with our pastor trying to act as mediator. The Bishop always could have the final word because he controlled the pursestrings (The Diocese loans the money for new churches or remodeling.) We finally compromised with a semi-circular design (wanted by the Bishop) and pews with kneelers (disdained by the Bishop.) I think the only reason we got that design was because some other crisis distracted the Bishop (such as Rome investigating him because of his liberalism and his own disobedience), and the parish council slipped the parish-favored design through the process when he wasn't looking. The Bishop was NOT pleased, and he sent his newly appointed assistant (the new co-Bishop assigned from Rome to watch him) to the dedication and didn't bother to come himself.
Our Pastor was always in slightly less than boiling water with the Bishop. He'd been on the fast track up the ladder in a large, urban parish and had been transferred to our small, country parish as punishment for some transgression years before.