Affair charge rocks cleric

  • Thread starter Thread starter Libertas_cordis
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
40.png
Timidity:
How does one discuss it without committing the sin of detraction?
Click to expand...
I agree with you. I am not discussing anything.
But
It isn’t a non-story if it made the NYTimes.
 
40.png
contemplative:
I agree with you. I am not discussing anything.
Click to expand...
I wasn’t pointing fingers–just musing out loud. I think I’ll start a new thread on that.
40.png
contemplative:
But It isn’t a non-story if it made the NYTimes.
Click to expand...
I disagree. News outlets and bloggers (especially) frequently go off on non-stories in pursuit of an agenda.
 
From what I read today was that he stepped down until the whole situation clears. The fact that both of them went to a motel does not mean anything. Maybe she had some things on her mind and wanted a quiet place to talk things over?
What happened to the notion ‘innocent until proven guilty’? Are we changing it to ‘guilty until proven innocent’?
 
40.png
MarySon:
From what I read today was that he stepped down until the whole situation clears. The fact that both of them went to a motel does not mean anything. Maybe she had some things on her mind and wanted a quiet place to talk things over?
What happened to the notion ‘innocent until proven guilty’? Are we changing it to ‘guilty until proven innocent’?
Click to expand...
You are correct. Folks are quick to smack a scarlet letter ‘A’ on their chests.
The media makes it very tempting to do so.
Even Catholic World News has the story pretty well covered.
 
40.png
Timidity:
How does one discuss it without committing the sin of detraction?
Click to expand...
I see it like this. I do not know if objective sin has occurred.

I am reasonably certain that imprudent behavior by two intelligent adults has minimally created yet anotherscandal. Employers are acting imprudently if they check into a hotel for six hours with their secretary at midday. Employers act imprudently if they pay secretaries six figure incomes unless the going rate for secretarial services is in that range.

One can certainly discuss the prudence of a high level manager sharing a hotel room with a with an opposite sex secretary 20+ years his junior. This is especially true if the employer of both is attempting to recover from a great public scandal of a similar nature.

As to innocent until proven guilty, that is an American judicial process, not a Cannon Law one. All the good Cardinal of NY needs to do is ask the Msgr. what he did, when and with whom and the obedient Msgr. must answer truthfully. Simple at that…

In the U.S. it is an adversarial search for justice. In the Church it at least in theory, there is a mutual search for the truth. These systems have little in common.

As for me, in my own personal life that involves travel and entertainment of clients, I have not taken a member of the opposite sex out to lunch alone in 20 years. I always take two or three people or cater lunch in for the whole department. This is just the way I am and it is not a reflection on my clients as much as it is a reflection of a prudent married man who treasures his marriage above all else. Accordingly, I protect it with aggressive vigor.

The Monsignor should know better and display more prudence as to the objective appearance of his exterior acts.
 
This is a very sad day for the Church. The appearance of impropriety should be avoided by a priest. Especially in light of the sex scandals that rocked the Church. The anti-Catholics are having a field day. I don’t know if it’s true or not and it’s not my position to judge. I pray for the people involved as well as our Holy Church. May God keep and preserve us all in the one true faith.
 
NEW YORK - A Roman Catholic monsignor named in court papers as “the other man” in a divorce case resigned Thursday as rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the New York archdiocese said.

Cardinal Edward Egan accepted Msgr. Eugene Clark’s resignation from the key church position despite the 79-year-old Clark’s denials that he has been carrying on an affair with his 46-year-old private secretary, the church said.

“He offered his resignation for the good of Saint Patrick’s and the archdiocese,” the statement said. “He will not be celebrating Mass or the sacraments publicly until this matter has been resolved.”
**
read the rest here:**

msnbc.msn.com/id/8915027/
 
Actually it IS an issue of canon law. Msgr. Clark is a cleric, and if the allegations are true he has sinned against the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue, and violated a sacred promise to his ordinary (celibacy).

If that is the case, he can be punished with a just penalty, which may well include dismissal from the priesthood.

AT THE VERY LEAST, he has caused scandal among the faithful, and because of his high-profile position and public presence this is all the more magnified.

It is scandalous for a priest to be in a hotel room alone with a woman, regardless if she is his secretary. The husband also alleges that the wife lied about where she was going with Msgr. Clark.

I am a deacon, and I GUARANTEE you if my archbishop found out that a priest of his had been alone with a woman in a hotel room for six hours there would be heck to pay! Without a doubt, he would be put on immediate administrative leave until everything was sorted out, and if it were true, there would be severe penalties.

God in heaven have mercy on Msgr. Clark if this alleged ongoing affair has been a contributing factor to the divorce of his secretary.

And the incredibly high salary raises further suspicion.

Pray for all involved, and for all the faithful that have been scandalized by this ridiculous and outrageous behavior of Msgr. Clark.

God bless you all,
 
I hope he didn’t do it. I really don’t want to know much about it other than what I already heard: that the husband hired a PI who has video of them going into a hotel room and coming out hours later in different clothes.

If he did it, I hope he can muster the courage to turn the thing on it head. The media gleefully has noted that he has been a public critic of the sex-saturated American culture. Another juicy hypocrisy story!

Not so fast. IF he did it, he should agree to any and all interview requests. Confess his sin (with no titillating details) and admit guilt and responsibility. Look straight into the camera and tell America that it is NOT hypocrisy to hold up a moral principle that one struggles with ones self. Imagine this testimony:

“I hold with all the things I’ve said before about the depravity of modern American culture. Every day, every man in America is bombarded with the message that woman is an object to be used for pleasure. Magazines, billboards, TV commercials, music, radio hosts, you name it. In my own weakness, I failed to honor Mrs. X in her full humanity as daughter of God and wife of Mr. X. That is to my shame. What I have said up to now many took to be the statements of a man who felt himself above the depravity of the culture. Like I held myself out as an example of what they should be. In fact, I was all the time speaking as a man who had failed to resist this culture myself. I could see that it was wrong. I knew in my mind that what I was doing was destructive to me, to her, to her family, to the church. But I was too selfish and too emotionally attached to my sin to do what was right. And too proud to seek help. I wanted others to avoid the mess I had gotten myself into. But I couldn’t summon the strength to overcome the habit of sin I had fallen into myself. I ask the forgiveness of God, of Mr. and Mrs. X and of all those whom my actions have wounded and scandalized. I will be spending the next X years in the monastery of X to try to heal my own wounds. And I’ve sold my Hamptons home and donated the proceeds to the X’s as a small measure of penance for what I’ve done to them.”

IF he did indeed do it, I hope he can find the strength and inspiration to make a St. Peter moment out of it, instead of a Judas Iscariot moment.
 
Really its sad either way. The media will use it to bash the church…not that they need an excuse …sometimes I think they delight in it 😦
 
40.png
manualman:
I hope he didn’t do it. I really don’t want to know much about it other than what I already heard: that the husband hired a PI who has video of them going into a hotel room and coming out hours later in different clothes.

If he did it, I hope he can muster the courage to turn the thing on it head. The media gleefully has noted that he has been a public critic of the sex-saturated American culture. Another juicy hypocrisy story!

Not so fast. IF he did it, he should agree to any and all interview requests. Confess his sin (with no titillating details) and admit guilt and responsibility. Look straight into the camera and tell America that it is NOT hypocrisy to hold up a moral principle that one struggles with ones self. Imagine this testimony:

“I hold with all the things I’ve said before about the depravity of modern American culture. Every day, every man in America is bombarded with the message that woman is an object to be used for pleasure. Magazines, billboards, TV commercials, music, radio hosts, you name it. In my own weakness, I failed to honor Mrs. X in her full humanity as daughter of God and wife of Mr. X. That is to my shame. What I have said up to now many took to be the statements of a man who felt himself above the depravity of the culture. Like I held myself out as an example of what they should be. In fact, I was all the time speaking as a man who had failed to resist this culture myself. I could see that it was wrong. I knew in my mind that what I was doing was destructive to me, to her, to her family, to the church. But I was too selfish and too emotionally attached to my sin to do what was right. And too proud to seek help. I wanted others to avoid the mess I had gotten myself into. But I couldn’t summon the strength to overcome the habit of sin I had fallen into myself. I ask the forgiveness of God, of Mr. and Mrs. X and of all those whom my actions have wounded and scandalized. I will be spending the next X years in the monastery of X to try to heal my own wounds. And I’ve sold my Hamptons home and donated the proceeds to the X’s as a small measure of penance for what I’ve done to them.”

IF he did indeed do it, I hope he can find the strength and inspiration to make a St. Peter moment out of it, instead of a Judas Iscariot moment.
Click to expand...
I wonder if the same attitude would be taken if he had been (and I am not for one instant saying he is) a phoedophile with young altar servers?
 
walstan, what do you mean?

My hypothetical quote of course assumes that he really he a believing catholic who happens to have failed miserably.

A guilty pedophile priest who really believes the gospel, but chose to give in to sick temptations is also eligible for eternal redemption. Making public statements of guilt sorrow and intent to reform whiel removing himself from public exposure would also be appropriate there too.

There are some differences though. We do NOT live (yet) in a culture that encourages sexual exploitation of children. It seems to me that pedophilia/pederasty is quite a bit further down the slippery slope of moral decline than heterosexual adultery. Before you flame me, I didn’t say it was a less serious sin. But I believe that it is indicative of a more deeply sin-damaged soul. You don’t just wake up a pedophile one day. You commit a lot of other sexual sin first.
 
I have always found the Monsignor to be a very inspiring man of the cloth. I have watched him often on EWTN.

I will be praying for him in a special way from this day on. If he is being wronged he has nothing to fear.

If he has fallen, he has fallen. Please remember that it is now his right and privilege to rise again on wings of prayer. Such is the mercy of God.
 
I am praying for Msgr. Clark. Whether he is guilty or innocent, he needs prayers right now.

God Bless,
Gary
 
We don’t need our enemies to invent things about us.We give them enough ammunition ourselves.One of the Monseignors problems is when you are as critical and judgemental as he and you get caught doing the wrong thing.There are a lot of people waiting to pay you back.
 
40.png
JOHNYJ:
We don’t need our enemies to invent things about us.We give them enough ammunition ourselves.One of the Monseignors problems is when you are as critical and judgemental as he and you get caught doing the wrong thing.There are a lot of people waiting to pay you back.
Click to expand...
Forget about his actions for a moment. If there is something wrong in what the Monsignor has said please point it out.
 
Fergal # 38
It is not whether he was right or not.He was always very direct and public.When you are that way you had best make sure your own finger nails are clean.He may be innocent,if so he should not have resigned.It does not look good.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top