No Good Deed
Goes Unpunished
Persecuted priest lashes out at
fellow clergy
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Matt C. Abbott
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Matt C. Abbott
November 20, 2004
Father James Haley is angry. A case of righteous anger, it seems.
The whistleblower priest of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, featured in a
Nov. 15 story in The Washington Times (see: http://www.washtimes.com/national/20041115-124042-2061r.htm),
has been silenced by Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde.
In an e-mail I received, Father Haley laments:
."All of this, so far, is about me. Bishop Loverde is not on trial, Father
Rippy is not on trial, Father Mealey is not on trial, and the Church is not on
trial. Their faculties have not been removed, their permission to preach has
not been denied, and their financial pay has not been discontinued while they
wait — I have been waiting three years, one month and counting — for some
recourse to some sort of Church 'justice.'
"And yet, I am not the one hiding homosexual priests and bishops, or
homosexual misconduct and abuse, or homosexual pornography. I am not the one
stealing large sums of money from parish collections. I am not the one using
money, donated by the people of the diocese to further the Gospel proclamation
of the truth, to pay for canon lawyers, civil lawyers, public relation firms
and the salaries of diocesan spokespersons in order to intimidate, control, and
hide the truth about the real moral crisis.
"I am not the one using public media, diocesan newspaper and pulpit
announcements, to falsely malign and defame a priest of the diocese with
knowingly false information about not being under a legal subpoena to testify,
or of purposely publicizing information about homosexual priests in the
diocese.
"That information was part of the deposition questions asked in the
Lambert lawsuit tying to show a trend, or history, of not addressing priest
problems and of protecting guilty priests from exposure, correction or removal
from ministry — although this 'protection' seems to highly favor homosexual
abuse problems. I am not the one who has promoted homosexual men to positions
of authority and power — chancellors, vicar generals, vocation directors,
seminary rectors, even to the office of Bishop and Cardinal.
"And yet, I am the one on 'trial'; and not one of them, not one bishop,
not one cardinal, not one chancellor, not one vicar general, has been
suspended, or had their faculties removed, or had their financial support
denied, or painfully await a Church trial about their absolutely egregious and
immoral, if not in many cases, illegal, behaviors..
"The uncontrolled, increasing presence of homosexual men serving as
priests and bishops can not, can never, take a back seat to other issues. This
is the largest and most pressing moral issue in the Catholic Church, and the
bishops must face it with transparency, clarity and courage in order to ever
truly restore their credibility.."
Matt C. Abbott is the former executive director of the
Illinois Right to Life Committee and the former director of public affairs for
the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League. He is also a contributor to
Cruxnews.com, RenewAmerica.us, MichNews.com, IllinoisLeader.com,
AmericanDaily.com, ChristianNewsToday.com, Catholiccitizens.org, "The
Wanderer" Catholic newspaper, TCRNews2.com, Catholic.net, Catholic.org,
CatholicExchange.com, and Out2.com. He can be reached at mattcabbott@hotmail.com
.
© Copyright 2004 by Matt C. Abbott
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/041120
Recent articles by Matt C. Abbott:
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at NEIU, part II
- Undocumented
immigrants should be given legal status
- An outreach to
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- PETA, fallacies,
and a controversial ad campaign
- Cardinal George
praises young adult group's pro-life witness
- Catholic college
to host Kerry event?
- Flashback: Mel
Gibson's brother thanks rabbi
