NEW JERSEY
Waiting for Godot to Leave
Kevin O’Brien
Rod Dreher brings up some current sex scandals in the Church, some of which I’ve written about recently on this blog.
One involves Fr. Riedlinger in New Jersey. Riedlinger was a favorite of Msgr. Rossi, who is the rector of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC – enough of a favorite that Riedlinger claimed he would “vacation” with Rossi (who is a much older man). Riedlinger would be introduced by Rossi to young seminarians, and Riedlinger would then proceed to hit on these guys and turn the talk around to gay sex. Some of the young seminarians would complain about this, and their complaints would go unheeded.
Eventually, two of them instituted a “sting” operation against Riedlinger. Timothy Schmalz and his roommate Ryan posed as a 16-year-old boy on Facebook, and “friended” Fr. Riedlinger, who soon turned the conversation toward sex.
The messages show Riedlinger needed little or no invitation to steer the conversation to sex. He spoke of past encounters and the size of his penis, encouraged Josh to enjoy sex with his boyfriend and repeatedly told him how alike they were in their thirst for pornography and sex.
“I love u dude. Ur a sick (expletive) like me,” Riedlinger wrote.
Riedlinger occasionally sent a message saying he was near Newton, suggesting a get-together. On those occasions, Schmalz declined to respond and made up an excuse later.
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