I’m not sure why it was necessary to make a federal case out of a sick and aging cloistered Carmelite nun who in her moment of weakness was sexting a priest friend of hers.
Does transparency mean making the a nun into the central character of a soap opera plot with salacious details?
Why did the Bishop of Dallas make this case so transparent and subject to godawful voyeurism worldwide? It was and is kind of stomach turning.
What do you think?
BREAKING: Judge Dismisses Texas Monastery’s Lawsuit Against Fort Worth Bishop
June 30 ruling grants the Fort Worth Diocese’s motion to dismiss the monastery’s complaint, which accused Bishop Michael Olson of theft, defamation and abuse of power.
8 comments:
We might consider what this means as a precedent for disclosing other confidential information, especially concerning sexual abuse. For example, while the person may have confided the act under the seal of confession or other confidentiality protection, there may be other avenues of discovery. In addition, I wonder what she did to cause her dismissal from religious life. That seems very harsh.
Plenty of bishops and priests have gotten away with far worse. Dismissing this woman from religious life was an extraordinary over-reach considering there are still prelates in the Vatican who participated in a cocaine fueled gay sex orgy. Some animals are more equal than others in this corrupt pontificate.
To me, and perhaps to the chagrin of others, I feel the bishop abused his authority.
The internet is permanent, neither of these consenting adults needed that exposure.
While they are consenting adults, it would appear that what they both did not rise to the level of criminal activity in any way.
Perhaps their activities were driven by mutual loneliness, frustration, pain from illness, the desire to have some normalcy given pain from illness, any and all. Compassion would have lead me to get to the root cause without resorting to scorched earth that serves no greater good. With compassion, direction, repentance, both vocations could perhaps have been saved in some way. Again, consenting adults who succumbed to weakness, not criminal activity.
The bishop in his wisdom and being compassionate towards the two consenting adults could have provided counsel, opportunities for repentance and treated them like adults that did not do anything that rose to the level of criminal activity.
Lack of common sense, compassion, you name it relative to degree. I hope the good bishop is just that perfect as compassion might not easily come to him should the hour come that he might benefit from some.
Further to my post, I'm not condoning cover ups. This was 2 consenting adults who did not engage in criminal behavior. This seems like transparency at the expense of common sense, treating people as adults (they are fragile humans) while maintaining their dignity. Unless I'm missing the point totally, this was sexual activity between two adults, not sexual abuse or harassment. The punishment doesn't fit the proverbial crime it would seem. Tell me I'm wrong and I'll happily listen and reconsider.
The following article might perhaps shed some light. In it Father de Souza suggests that there is a “new culture of ecclesial punishments,” especially ramped up under Pope Francis and rooted in a reaction to the sexual abuse crisis:
https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/texas-carmelites-case-reflects-the-vatican-s-new-culture-of-ecclesial-punishments
https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/texas-carmelites-case-reflects-the-vatican-s-new-culture-of-ecclesial-punishments
"Bishop Olson did not take kindly to the civil lawsuit and told the nuns that until they dropped it, they would no longer have daily Mass and access to confession."
Weaponizing sacraments. How bizarre.
"Then ecclesiastical punishments were rare and light; today, they are frequent and severe. The culture has shifted."
I'm not going to quote the whole article here. A culture where adults aren't always capable of being god-like, where debate is suppressed is just toxic. If humans were that perfect, they would be sitting next to St. Mary on high. But, we aren't. By no means am I advocating for laisse faire either. It just seems like the Roman Church is hell-bent on being miserable anymore, not as much on salvation, sacraments, hope, joy and beauty....
Sophia here: God Bless you Father McDonald. I wholeheartedly agree with you and the first 3 gentlemen.
This story is so unbelievable, so demoralizing-it smacks of vindictiveness and even cruelty!
ByzRus,
If only the sisters had been pro-abortion, the left would demand the Bishop stopped weaponizing the sacraments
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