Sunday, October 18, 2009

Faith, Hypocrisy and Deceit

One among many issues I have with the Catholic Church is the persistent pattern of covering up the misdeeds and sometimes criminal acts of priests. Another issue I have is the Church's schizophrenic position on celibacy and allowing priests to marry. I guess I'll stop there two issues for one day is enough.

This situation, as detailed in New York Times, could have been avoided if either of these issues hadn't existed...
With three small children and her marriage in trouble, Pat Bond attended a spirituality retreat for Roman Catholic women in Illinois 26 years ago in hopes of finding support and comfort.

What Ms. Bond found was a priest — a dynamic, handsome Franciscan friar in a brown robe — who was serving as the spiritual director for the retreat and agreed to begin counseling her on her marriage. One day, she said, as she was leaving the priest’s parlor, he pulled her aside for a passionate kiss.

Ms. Bond separated from her husband, and for the next five years she and the priest, the Rev. Henry Willenborg, carried on an intimate relationship. In public, they were both leaders in their Catholic community. In private they functioned like a married couple, sharing a bed, meals, movie nights and vacations with the children.

Eventually they had a son, setting off a series of legal battles as Ms. Bond repeatedly petitioned the church for child support. The Franciscans acquiesced, with the stipulation that she sign a confidentiality agreement. It is now an agreement she is willing to break as both she and her child, Nathan Halbach, 22, are battling cancer.

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