UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches
Post by Sarah Morice-Brubaker
Annie Gowen at the Washington Post has written a lucid and troubling article about a lawsuit filed in Arlington this week against Human Life International. The lawsuit alleges that Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, a Catholic priest and former president of HLI, sexually abused a woman who had turned to him for counseling—and that he did so under the guise of performing an exorcism. (According to diocesan officials, Euteneuer was not authorized to perform exorcisms.) The lawsuit does not name Euteneuer as a defendant, but instead seeks damages from HLI which, according to the woman’s attorneys, knew about and permitted the exorcism. Euteneuer stepped down from his position as president of HLI in 2010.
Currently HLI is promoting a “One Million Rosary Challenge” as a tie-in with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Fortnight for Freedom, a campaign calling upon Catholics to support religious liberty and freedom, which have become battle cries in the fight over the contraception coverage mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
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