None of us have access to the facts at this time, leaving for much confusion and only conjecture. Of course he could be guilty. But he could also be innocent and has a right under justice to be thought so absent conviction.
I'm wondering if the guilty party confessed the matter to Father and he's now of course bound by the seal. Typically a number of people have access to rectories in addition to resident priests.
The weird part of this: nobody is talking about who else had access to the Rectory. He was still new to the neighborhood. Did he unwittingly step into an ongoing porn selling ring setup operating out of a temporarily unoccupied rectory?
In light of this nightmare every priest should demand a hired crew go in and check all rectory computers before agreeing to move in for the first time.
Let us pray that the reasons which forced the state of RI to clear his name will have the same effect at the federal level.
I have been a parishioner at St. Mary's for a year and eight months. I can tell you that there were a lot of people around the church and the rectory for many of those months. The bell tower has been in the process of repair and the exterior of the rectory was professionally painted just this past late summer, as well as the parking lot repairs, plumbing work, etc. It seems very strange to me that someone with an impeccable reputation his entire life with no indication whatsoever of anything "off" about him would suddenly be engaging in incredibly depraved pornography shortly after arriving at a new place. I say suddenly because in almost all such cases the person has a long long trail of digital evidence and I have not read of any such report. I could go on but suffice it to say I have a lot of questions and I pray every day for justice to be served.
ReplyDelete