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GloriaPatri4
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22 October 2003Overexposure–A new kind of clerical scandal
Brace yourself for a new kind of clerical scandal. In the past, law-enforcement officials might have kept things quiet when priests were arrested for immoral behavior, trusting their bishops to apply the necessary discipline. No longer; the cases are hitting the headlines.
*This article previously appeared in the October, 2003 edition of *The Catholic World Reportin slightly different form.
One shady staple of gay culture is “cruising” for sex in public places—typically parks, public restrooms, and highway rest stops. It appears to be the quickest and most reliable way for an overheated gay man to find a partner for the purposes of satisfying his disordered sexual appetite in one manner or another. This frequently entails anonymous public sex, usually between consenting adult males who don’t know one another from Adam. By any standard, it’s reckless behavior. It’s also illegal.
Father Raymond Larger made that startling discovery the hard way. This summer, the Cincinnati priest was arrested and charged with two counts of public indecency in Dayton, Ohio’s Triangle Park, some 50 miles from his parish. Fr. Larger made the mistake of soliciting sex from an undercover police officer. His method: groping the man’s groin and exposing himself.
Triangle Park has long been a popular meeting ground for anonymous homosexual encounters. Fr. Larger was not there by accident. In fact, according to the arresting officer, Fr. Larger told the detective that he’s a frequent visitor to the park. In other words, the priest regularly “cruises” for public sex, a far cry from fitting behavior for any grown man, let alone for a pastor of a Catholic parish.
Fr. Larger pleaded no contest to sexual misconduct charges, was convicted, and given a 30-day suspended jail sentence and one year of unsupervised probation. He was also temporarily stripped of his priestly faculties and suspended indefinitely by Cincinnati’s Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk. It is instructive to note that the convicted priest was not immediately placed on leave. It was only after reporters from Cincinnati’s Channel 9 News confronted the archdiocese about the priest’s arrest and conviction that the archbishop addressed the issue. An archdiocesan spokesman told the Cincinnati Enquirer that the archbishop’s decision to place Larger on paid administrative leave was “a response to loud and numerous complaints from Larger’s flock.”
Parishioners at Cincinnati’s Our Lady of Visitation Church, where Fr. Larger was pastor at the time of his arrest, are understandably upset. Not only is it an insufferable embarrassment to have one’s pastor arrested for indecent exposure, it is difficult to imagine one’s son (or daughter, or wife) interacting on any level with such a man. Just as the sexual abuse of minors is unconscionable behavior, so too is Larger’s “cruising.” Both forms of his behavior are sexually predatory in nature (though, obviously, the abuse of minors is a far greater transgression). Both are illegal. Both are reckless. Both are a disgrace to the Roman collar.
Not an isolated case
American Catholics should steel themselves in anticipation for more of this sort of news. More and more priests are likely to be “outed” for their arrests on morals charges such as public indecency, lewd conduct, and solicitation. The fact that priests are regularly arrested in flagrante delicto is not a new phenomenon. The increased publicity given to these cases, however, is the real news.
Father Larger’s case is—unfortunately—all too common. The few examples I cite in this column don’t even scratch the surface of this scandal. Nonetheless, consider:
continued:
cruxnews.com/rose/overexposure.html
Brace yourself for a new kind of clerical scandal. In the past, law-enforcement officials might have kept things quiet when priests were arrested for immoral behavior, trusting their bishops to apply the necessary discipline. No longer; the cases are hitting the headlines.
*This article previously appeared in the October, 2003 edition of *The Catholic World Reportin slightly different form.
One shady staple of gay culture is “cruising” for sex in public places—typically parks, public restrooms, and highway rest stops. It appears to be the quickest and most reliable way for an overheated gay man to find a partner for the purposes of satisfying his disordered sexual appetite in one manner or another. This frequently entails anonymous public sex, usually between consenting adult males who don’t know one another from Adam. By any standard, it’s reckless behavior. It’s also illegal.
Father Raymond Larger made that startling discovery the hard way. This summer, the Cincinnati priest was arrested and charged with two counts of public indecency in Dayton, Ohio’s Triangle Park, some 50 miles from his parish. Fr. Larger made the mistake of soliciting sex from an undercover police officer. His method: groping the man’s groin and exposing himself.
Triangle Park has long been a popular meeting ground for anonymous homosexual encounters. Fr. Larger was not there by accident. In fact, according to the arresting officer, Fr. Larger told the detective that he’s a frequent visitor to the park. In other words, the priest regularly “cruises” for public sex, a far cry from fitting behavior for any grown man, let alone for a pastor of a Catholic parish.
Fr. Larger pleaded no contest to sexual misconduct charges, was convicted, and given a 30-day suspended jail sentence and one year of unsupervised probation. He was also temporarily stripped of his priestly faculties and suspended indefinitely by Cincinnati’s Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk. It is instructive to note that the convicted priest was not immediately placed on leave. It was only after reporters from Cincinnati’s Channel 9 News confronted the archdiocese about the priest’s arrest and conviction that the archbishop addressed the issue. An archdiocesan spokesman told the Cincinnati Enquirer that the archbishop’s decision to place Larger on paid administrative leave was “a response to loud and numerous complaints from Larger’s flock.”
Parishioners at Cincinnati’s Our Lady of Visitation Church, where Fr. Larger was pastor at the time of his arrest, are understandably upset. Not only is it an insufferable embarrassment to have one’s pastor arrested for indecent exposure, it is difficult to imagine one’s son (or daughter, or wife) interacting on any level with such a man. Just as the sexual abuse of minors is unconscionable behavior, so too is Larger’s “cruising.” Both forms of his behavior are sexually predatory in nature (though, obviously, the abuse of minors is a far greater transgression). Both are illegal. Both are reckless. Both are a disgrace to the Roman collar.
Not an isolated case
American Catholics should steel themselves in anticipation for more of this sort of news. More and more priests are likely to be “outed” for their arrests on morals charges such as public indecency, lewd conduct, and solicitation. The fact that priests are regularly arrested in flagrante delicto is not a new phenomenon. The increased publicity given to these cases, however, is the real news.
Father Larger’s case is—unfortunately—all too common. The few examples I cite in this column don’t even scratch the surface of this scandal. Nonetheless, consider:
continued:
cruxnews.com/rose/overexposure.html
