Reverend and Dear Fathers…
Here is a link to an article that was just released late yesterday on the website of The Catholic World Report.
Civil Suits by Catholic Priests: A Status Report by Michael Mazza
Michael Mazza is both a civil lawyer and a canon lawyer (a successful one, too).
The article highlights both the level of frustration (and even desperation) that exists among priests and lay faithful regarding accusations and the way they are handled AND how pursuing a path of civil litigation has its own hazards. This is an important and timely topic, so please feel free to circulate.
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All: There are a couple of longish and substantive comments in the queue from laypeople. I read them. However, I am going to close the combox on this post. Let’s let the legal expertise of the writer stand for now.
I know that laypeople are also included in the subject of the article, but my main target audience was priests. I am aware that there are instances of priests suing dioceses that have had unfortunate results for the priests. Priests need to be aware of what the issues may be. Hence, I posted this piece, which I think is an important reference.
Regarding the comments in the queue.
In many cases today, dioceses don’t follow proper procedures when there is an “accusation” against a priest and priests don’t know how to respond in a timely and proper way. That’s something I’ve written about before. You can do a search on “Michael Mazza” on this site for more on that.
Also, priests have a right to a good reputation. That isn’t in every case honored by dioceses. There should be some process for redress.
As the system, as it is, grinds away, we see again and again how vulnerable priests are to abuse by their superiors. Hopefully in the future, this will be different.
I remind everyone that all forms of earthly government are a punishment for Original Sin (cf. De civitate Dei). This is in no way a bid for anarchy. It is simply a fact that human flaws resulting from sin rouse up the need for governmental structures. Were every person able to function with the gifts which our First Parents lost, we would not need governments.