Isn’t this the first such peremptory punishment for a priest suspected of consenting-adult homosexual acting-out? To expel him forthwith from his job as pastor?
Related question: Is Fr. P. the first such celibacy-violator to be discovered in the archdiocese?
There are no others whom this or any previous cardinal archbishop has missed in their ongoing pursuit for the welfare of parishioners?
How did the cardinal learn of the Fr. Phillips case? Not a question of accuser — no criminal prosecution is mentioned. So we ask not about the accuser but about the informer. Who is Cardinal Cupich’s informer? Will he come forth to testify?
Should gay Chicago priests be worried about some sort of crackdown? One would not think so, the cardinal being so completely on the side of gay tolerance. Ridiculous to think that of him who has hosted the nation’s prime gay advocate Fr. James Martin SJ to the cathedral.
It’s also ridiculous that he would target the most successful and best known Latin Mass advocate in the archdiocese for special condemnation. This is such a mess, when you get down to it.
Finally, Fr. P. has a lawyer. His congregation, the Resurrectionists, is examining his case. Years ago, sitting in a meeting of Weber High alumni and several Resurrectionists including the provincial, I heard the latter list almost comically among his problems one of his priests who was founding a new religious order, obviously Fr. P.
He was musing in relaxed fashion, and there was no animosity in what he said, just a simple declaration to show how many problems he had in addition to Weber, then in trouble and soon to be closed.
Can we imagine Fr. P’s fellow Resurrectionist Fathers concluding that there’s nothing in the announcement and (presumed irrevocable) ousting of a pastor, contradicting the cardinal?
How messy can this get? Messier yet, it seems.
Blithe Spirit 