I was raised an atheist and converted to Catholicism when I got married. Fast forward 15 years, my husband and I were having a rough patch, and I went to church seeking some help. Our parish priest offered to help with marital counseling, and then later on kissed me and propositioned me during confession.
I told my husband and the Diocese about it immediately.
Eesh; that’s awful. Good for you, for reporting him right away. Lots of people just… don’t. I wonder how many people he’s done this to before who’ve never reported him.
It took 6 months, but the priest was finally put on administrative leave and then removed from the parish. The Vicar of Priests at the Diocese apologized to me and had the Diocese pay for me to attend counseling with a professional.
This seems to be a bafflingly common course for dioceses. A friend of mine was likewise the object of (attempted, unsuccessful) seduction by a visiting priest from Africa, who also verbally abused her, sent her inappropriate texts, and extracted financial favors from him (convincing her to buy him a laptop, a car, etc., all while discussing his plans to get a job and quit the priesthood). When she finally told the diocese, they dragged their feet the same way – paying for counseling, only reluctantly pulling his faculties (eventually, after she threatened to go to the media), being very impersonal etc. about it. That bishop was made a Cardinal not long ago, incidentally (though he was not involved in the process and, AFAIK, was never even told about it, all these interactions occurred with the diocesan director for clergy).
I understand that priests are human and sin, and it appears that he has been placed on “Prayers and Penance,” ergo he can only work within the Diocesan offices and no longer in a parish.
Well, I guess that’s a start. A better arrangement for him would be to be placed on “Prayers and Penance” in a monastery way out in the desert, under the supervision of a very stern abbot, enforcing rigorous rules of lifelong labor and silence.
But my family and I have lost our faith, and no amount of prayer is bringing that back. After 5 years, we are no closer to ever going back to organized religion. I remain morally wounded, and I feel doubly stupid for ever believing in God or that I could trust being alone with a man in a position of authority again.
I hope you don’t take it badly if I point out here that it is not of faith that any particular priest is good, holy, or sinless, or that present-day American dioceses will respond to allegations of clerical misconduct in anything other than a manner like corporate HR/legal departments. So the horribleness of this situation is not really a reason to lose faith. What is of faith, on the other hand, is that “in this world, you will have troubles.”
