The other side of the coin - when a priest is cleared of abuse

[Tommy999]

Most of the time, we hear on the news when clergy (Catholic and otherwise) perpetrate abuse on innocent children and youth. Abuse is always a tragedy that grieves our Lord that is unfortunately a part of our sinful world. Our hope and prayer is that abuse will end some day

On the other hand, I thought it would be good to share the other side of the coin - when alleged abuse is deemed to not have occurred. In cases like this, it makes me wonder if the priest in question will ever be able to return to normalcy in his ministry and life or will he forever have his reputation tarnished for having been accused of sexual abuse, even though the accusations were found to be unsubstantiated.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/...on-against-tulsa-priest-unsubstantiated-85541

 

[melonhead]

Here’s another. This priest was cleared of wrongdoing by the police departments in the area, then by the diocese.

Diocesan Review Board concludes Father Michael Duesterhaus not credibly accused of child sexual abuse - Arlington Catholic Herald

The Diocese subsequently completed its own internal investigation of all allegations involving Father Duesterhaus. The information gathered during that investigation was presented to the Diocesan Review Board, and the Review Board reported to Bishop Michael Burbidge its determination that, based...

www.catholicherald.com

 

[TheLittleLady]

Tragically, the scarlet letter will always hang over their heads. Pray for our priests!

 

[1ke]

We had an accused priest here in WI acquitted on a 5 count indictment (one accuser) in a jury trial just this past September.

The accuser just wasn’t credible and there were large holes in his story. That it even got an indictment in the first place shows the onus is on the priest to prove innocence rather than the DA to prove guilt— when it should be the burden on the state to prove guilt.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

There are a lot of acquitted priests out there, as well as priests who weren’t prosecuted due to lack of evidence.

It’s likely that many of these priests did nothing untoward. It’s also possible that some of the priests may have committed some untoward act but there wasn’t sufficient evidence to convict them, or the priest skated on the hairy edge of wrongdoing.

Unfortunately, some innocent priests - including quite a few who have never even been accused of anything - will suffer along with the guilty ones. There are people who consider all priests to be abusers, and other people who consider anyone who’s ever been accused of abuse to be guilty even if the accusation was totally unfounded/ the accuser was not credible/ the accused was not prosecuted or was acquitted, etc.