LINCOLN (NE)
Catholic News Service
August 6, 2018
Lincoln Bishop James Conley apologized Aug. 4 for failing to be more transparent about a pastor removed from ministry and sent to treatment last year because the priest had developed “an emotionally inappropriate, non-sexual relationship with a 19-year-old male which involved alcohol.”
He sent Fr. Charles Townsend, pastor of St. Peter Parish in Lincoln, to the Shalom Center in Houston for treatment.
“My failure at the time was the lack of transparency with the people of God about this incident,” Conley said in an open letter to Catholics of the diocese.
“Despite reports to the contrary, I did not oblige anyone to keep silent about this matter. Our priests and the parishioners of St. Peter’s were told that he went away for health reasons. I made no effort to ‘cover up’ any element of this situation, and I tried to address it with integrity,” he wrote.
“However, I did not encourage transparency. I did not encourage an open discussion about this situation with our priests, with parishioners, or with those involved,” he continued. “Even though we were not legally obligated to report the incident, it would have been the prudent thing to do.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.