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Priest Found Hanged
Nando Times ^
| 05/16/02
| Stephen Manning
Posted on 05/16/2002 5:48:36 PM PDT by HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
Accused priest apparently takes own life at Maryland hospital
Copyright © 2002 AP Online
By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press
SILVER SPRING, Md. (May 16, 2002 7:57 p.m. EDT) - A 64-year-old priest who resigned from his parish in Connecticut amid allegations of sexual misconduct apparently killed himself Thursday at a Catholic psychiatric hospital, church officials said. The Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., identified the priest as the Rev. Alfred J. Bietighofer, who was stripped last month of his priestly powers and ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation.
Two men told diocesan officials Bietighofer abused them when they were boys in the late 1970s and early 1980s, church officials said.
Bietighofer was found hanged in his room Thursday at St. Luke Institute, according to Prince George's County police and hospital officials.
"I am profoundly saddened by the tragic death of Father Alfred Bietighofer," Bridgeport Bishop William Lori said in a statement. "To parishioners and to all those whom Father Bietighofer assisted during the course of his priestly ministry, I extend my sincere sympathy and prayers."
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TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: catholicchurch; christianity; homosexuality; religion; sexabuse
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To: HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
Man there is a lot of stuff going on today.
To: HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
Suicide is an unauthorized escape.
To: Domestic Church ; Aquinasfan ; yendu bwam ; ArrogantBustard ; Havisham ; sartorius ; VOA ...
bump
To: HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
bet theres a lot of child raping clergy who aint sleepin', and are doing some drinkin'.
5
posted on
05/16/2002 5:54:57 PM PDT
by
galt-jw
To: HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
......who was stripped last month of his priestly powersWhat, he could no longer molest minors faster than a speeding bullet?........
leap upon young boys with a single bound?........
To: HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
As much as I detest child molesters (and I do despise them), anyone who has committed any sin, no matter how horrific, can seek and obtain forgiveness from God with true repentance. If the accusations were true, the man could have found forgiveness and spent the rest of his life working to help find ways to protect children in the Church - or doing good in other ways. God never gives up on people. It's a tragedy that he gave up on himself.
To: galt-jw
bet theres a lot of child raping clergy who aint sleepin', and are doing some drinkin' Where did you come up with this "a lot" bit?
8
posted on
05/16/2002 5:58:05 PM PDT
by
Renatus
To: johniegrad
What's a tad WEEEEIIIRRRD is that there was an unusual alignment of planets last night, I believe. And May 13 which fell on Monday of this week was the anniversary of the frequently cited Fatima prophecy in Portugal which has figured in speculation about future disasters. I'm not superstitious but these are curiously odd synchronicities in a poetic sense (if not in the actual apocalyptic). Still...a lot of strange karma (mostly from the 1970s, BTW). O'Reilly did mention a story about a Cardinal yet to break on his show tonight.
To: HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
This is the second priest suicide I've heard of this week.
Three weeks ago, a priest in the Little Rock diocese and two years ahead of my class in seminary, Fr. Joe Corrente, took his life in his garage. Carbon monoxide poisoning. Joe had suffered from depression for years, yet he was assigned to a little hole-in-the-wall parish in a place called Tontitown, Arkansas.
Joe did a lot of good in his 28 years in the priesthood. God rest his soul, and the soul of the priest in this article.
This is all, sometimes, very sad.
10
posted on
05/16/2002 5:59:09 PM PDT
by
sinkspur
To: HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
Then Judas, who had handed him over, seeing that Jesus had been condemned, began to regret his action deeply.......... Judas flung the money into the temple and left. He went off and hanged himself." Matthew, 27: 3-5
To: yendu bwam
It's obviously a very miserable vice. One can only guess he was in deep despair and felt hopeless. It's sad and tragic that some of these cases were NOT stopped earlier. What we have now are senior citizens going senile finally being arrested or institutionalized.
To: Renatus
well, there have been more than anyone expected so far, and it seems likely that if there are a few turning up in the initial stages, more exist who are not yet discovered. and not ness. catholics.
13
posted on
05/16/2002 6:04:46 PM PDT
by
galt-jw
To: HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
Now, we will never know. Now, there cannot be healing, justice or reconciliation. Guilt cannot be determined, beyond a reasonable doubt. By doing this, the Father did no service to anyone, nor any good to the truth. He'll be assumed guilty by his action. May God have mercy on his soul. And, on the souls of those who have whipped up the Catholic priest molestation hysteria.
To: sinkspur
There was one here in Maryland a few years ago. Maybe someone remembers. Shot himself, I think, after being accused. I think some of these guys are very compartmentalized psychologically (like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). In the great majority of suicides, the person is virtually out of their mind - either semi-psychotically depressed or in deep despair with intense anxiety and agitation. This guy probably felt like he was in a dead end. Isolated, etc.
To: sinkspur
This is all, sometimes, very sad. Yes, it is.
To: HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
Very tragic. He could have repented and spent the rest of his life in prayer and fasting, but the modern Church doesn't offer this possiblity.
He was obviously somebody who did something terribly wrong, and was told to think of it as a simple "mistake" (Vatican II terminology for mortal sin). But he knew deep down inside that it was sinful, was horribly wrong, had probably destroyed lives - and nobody offered him the possibility of repentance and reparation. After all, the New Church of the Shrink has put aside all of these outdated concepts...
17
posted on
05/16/2002 6:12:55 PM PDT
by
livius
To: yendu bwam
can seek and obtain forgiveness from God with true repentance that is it, it must be true repentance and not the revolving door type. Haven't we ordinary Catholics gone to confession and even before receiving the Eucharist fall back into the old patterns of sin. We are all not perfect otherwise God would be out of a job. Striving for true repentance is quite a task for many a sinner and it is with God's grace we can accomplish it.
18
posted on
05/16/2002 6:13:04 PM PDT
by
ejo
Comment #19 Removed by Moderator
To: sinkspur
sad. condolences for your friend.
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