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| Video: Father Gofigan's Canon Lawyer Say There Is No Employer-Employee Relationship between Priest and Bishop
Pacific News Center
August 13, 2013
http://www.pacificnewscenter.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36831:video-father-gofigans-canon-lawyer-say-there-is-no-employer-employee-relationship-between-priest-and-bishop&catid=45
[with video]
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Guam - Up in the Archdiocese, it’s been several weeks since the controversial firing of Santa Barbara priest Father Paul Gofigan, but it’s unclear what will happen to him or if a resolution, if any, has been reached.
We spoke with the canon lawyer representing Father Paul in his quest to redeem himself from the tarnished reputation he believes was laid upon him by the Archdiocese of Agana.
He was accused of failing to obey Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s directive to dismiss an employee who was a registered sex offender. But Father Gofigan has stated that he had. In an earlier interview with PNC, Father Gofigan said he took the employee off the payroll after he was advised to do so in 2011. The man’s role at the parish became voluntary from that point on, according to Father Gofigan.
And the priest refuses to resign, telling PNC that his rights as a priest were violated when he wasn’t given a chance to defend himself before the Archdiocese made its abrupt decision a month ago. Father Gofigan has retained a canon lawyer, Father Adolfo Dacanay, a Jesuit Priest who heads the prestigious Ateneo De Manila University’s Theology Department.
Though Father Dacanay declined to comment on the case since it is in litigation, one thing he did make clear—there is no employee-employer relationship between a bishop and a priest.
"The relationship between the bishop and the priest is not an employer-employee relationship, so I would be very careful about describing the relationship between the priest and the bishop as an employee-employer relationship," Father Dacanay notes.
Another man who thinks Father Gofigan may have been wronged is vocal Catholic Tim Rohr. He declined an on camera interview but he maintains a blog that discusses at length the scandal within the church. Rohr cites a section in Canon Law that allows an aggrieved person to avoid contention by seeking a mutually fair solution.
Rohr goes on to explore the limitations of sinners as employees of the Catholic Church, pointing out that if the Archdiocese denies employment to registered sex offenders, what about other violent crimes?
Father Gofigan’s attorney, Father Dacanay says there are no set rules in the Roman Catholic Church, rather, each diocese would have its own guidelines. He notes that non-pastoral positions usually abide by these guidelines.
"Now if it is something to do with non-priest like positions, I would imagine a catechist or a secretary in the parish, there are general laws, guidelines in canon law but I would imagine that each diocese would have its own guideline," says Dacanay.
When asked, however, whether these same guidelines would apply to volunteers, Father Dacanay declined to comment. He does note, however, that Father Gofigan’s case is in litigation.
Archbishop Apuron returned from his trip to Brazil on August 9th. It was expected that Father Gofigan and the Archbishop would have a chance to iron out their differences. And while there’s been no word yet on whether the two have met over the case, Father Dacanay does note that his client’s case is moving forward.
Father Gofigan could not be reached as of news time. PNC also tried to get a comment from the Archdiocese but calls for comment were not returned as of news time.
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