CALIFORNIA
OpEd News
By
Joey Piscitelli
Once again, the vocal mouthpiece for the Salesian Order of priests, Fr. Itzaina – now Pastor at St. Peter and Paul’s Cathedral in San Francisco, has managed to degrade and dehumanize victims. This time, he discusses in his Sunday bulletin on 5/20/2012 the subject of ” whether those who commit suicide go to heaven”.
As a clergy abuse victim myself, who has personally butted heads with this cleric, I can say without reservation that Fr. Itzaina has not displayed a shred of compassion for me, or my family, who were tortured by the Salesian Order for over 5 years, for filing a legal claim against them for clergy sex abuse. (Which I won.) Nor have I met any other Salesian clergy victims who have stated that the Salesians have treated them with remorse; or have displayed accountability.
If one can imagine the pain, depression and desperation that a suicide victim endures, which leads to taking their own life; the question of not “going to heaven” for their suicide is redundant and inconsiderate, to say the least.
Itzaina continues his peculiar essay with this revelation, “There’s no doubt that suicide is a grave matter, but having full knowledge and willful consent is another thing. There must be full conscious knowledge to make suicide gravefully sinful”.
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