The Scandals, Fr. Benedict, and Moving on…

UNITED STATES
Father, Where Art Thou?

August 30, 2012 By Fr. Michael Duffy

An interview with Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR was recently published on the NCRegister website. It was quickly taken down, but not before it caused quite a stir. The Huffington post and the NY Daily News both picked up on it. Fr. Benedict is a remarkable priest – one that I’ve looked up to for many years. His book on Fr. Gene Hamilton helped me decide to become a priest in the early days of discernment. His comments to the NCRegister however horrified me.

“Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster – 14, 16, 18 – is the seducer…”

“I’m inclined to think, on their first offense, they should not go to jail because their intention was not committing a crime.”

No matter what the circumstance, a priest must be beyond reproach. The priest is always, ALWAYS called to a higher responsibility. To protect. To serve.

The Church has done so much since the scandals first broke back in 2002. We’ve done more than any other major corporation in the world. The bishop should be applauded for their vigilance.

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