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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Good grief! I'm not even the same faith, and even I know that suicide sends Catholics to Hell, and prevents them from being buried in hallowed ground. It's a total NO-NO! All I can figure is that he joined the priesthood to pursue his fixation of young boys, not to serve his god (unless his god was really of a Divine-pedophile/demon.)
That is being discussed in the relevant and usual circles. Bill O'Reilly had a Jesuit editor from America on the other night who, in the midst of defending the ordination of homosexuals, admitted that this was the "worst" crisis in the history of the Church in America. An extraordinary omission coming from a liberal apologist.
Here is what St. John Vianney, the Cure d'Ars, said concerning the eternal destiny of a man who had committed suicide: "Between the bridge and the river, he repented and was forgiven." St. John Vianney was a priest and is the patron saint of diocesan priests.
To be loved and not be able to "feel" it, in one's heart, has got to be a great suffering.
I know it sounds weird, but some of the guys who've left the priesthood to marry that I know have said that the love of God just wasn't enough.
In your simple world, I guess all an alcoholic has to do is confess his "sin" and he won't be drinking any more.
All these things should be offered freely by the Church to such tortured souls, and one should pray for their salvation. But they should NEVER be allowed to be alone with children or teenagers.
That's a myth. Nobody knows who goes to hell. Can you imagine ever committing suicide? To me, a person who wants to end their lives is terribly mentally ill, out of their heads actually. I'm sure God takes that into account.
It's also not true that a suicide can't be buried in hallowed ground. Suicides need all the prayers we who are left behind can offer for them, so they are given the full Mass of Christian Burial, and interment wherever their family wishes.
You know I would never say such a thing. My point was that when God forgives in confession and has the firm purpose of amendment (i.e.. has the intention not to sin again) one's sin is forgiven by God with the absolution of the priest. Should he repeat the sin he should return to confession but that doesn't mean that the sin of the previous confession was not forgiven. I need to go to confession at least once a week because I am weak and sin often and I believe God forgives me every time I receive the sacrament of penance. I need His grace.
If you don't live in a diocese like this, you're very lucky.
Then you're one of the lucky ones. All I know is once a priest shows a proclivity to involve minors in sexual activity, such priests should forever be precluded from being again in a situation to express those proclivities. Why? Because the first priority, above and beyond the emotional state of the priest (and the reputation of the church), is the well-being of children who might come in contact with him. Clearly, such a policy has rarely been followed in the Church, with disastrous and horrific results.
No. What has happened is that we have an entire younger generation of clergy/laity brought up on the social sin model (that is, capitalism is evil; what I do in my personal life is my own business), and an older generation of clergy who were encouraged to "let it all hang out," like a 60-ish professor I once had who turned up for class one day wearing "love-beads."
The problem is that the "new" Catholic Church has forgotten the absolutes. In fact, it has forgotten the four absolutes, formerly known as the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell.
Bodies piling up in the basement, huh? That, or you must be goin' wild with the ladies.
(That was a sick joke.)
You are correct. I lost a father-in-law to suicide and an ex-boyfriend (just last week) and have done reading on the subject.
From the Catechism:
2282 If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal. Voluntary co-operation in suicide is contrary to the moral law.
Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.
2283 We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.
Ah... That's an excellent point. In the 1970s and '80s when there was this ridiculous Liberation Theology hysteria, there was an orchestrated attempt to reduce Catholicism essentially to just a form of socialism, scarcely much different from the secular humanist varieties with the exception of the perverted use of religious symbolism to promote the ideology. In so far as Catholicism was emptied of its supernatural and sacramental focus, a lot of fuzzy ideas creeped in. There are still priests out there who think that the major focus of Catholicism is some type of socialism and NOT anything sacramental, mysterious, or spiritual at all.
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