Last week we learned that Fr. Michael Lastiri in the Fresno diocese was being reassigned to a parish. It seemed strange since he’d been removed from his previous assignment after it was alleged that he’d been using the Internet to arrange homosexual encounters and later he was accused of “misdirecting” $60,000 in parish funds, including $19,000 in personal travel over a 20 month period.
Uproar ensured and the pastor of his parish and the bishop defended the reassignment of Lastiri. Alas, it was not enough. Now Lastiri won’t be going to his new parish. I suppose they’ll wait until the heat dies down. Their only miscalculation was that they thought people had forgotten about him.
It’s fascinating how history gets re-written. Lastiri was found to have been advertising himself on gay hookup web sites. But Bishop Steinbock says Lastiri was removed after he “admitted he had indulged in sexual fantasies over the Internet.” There’s a big difference between indulging a fantasy and carrying it out. Neither is moral, but one is worse than the other. It’s one thing for a married man to indulge a fantasy about a beautiful model (which is still sinful matter), but it’s an order of magnitude worse for him to sign up on a dating web site. His wife might be miffed at the former, but she’d be furious at the latter and rightly so because it is a betrayal of their vows.
PPerhaps next time someone at the Vatican is sizing up candidates for the episcopate, they can check if they are as morally retarded as Bishop Steinbrock seems to be.
John, that’s a little harsh, don’t you think? [/sarcasm off]
It has become a sad fact of Catholic life in these United States that we cannot depend on some (many? most?) bishops to do the morally right thing or even be truthful.
It appears that it is only when clerical and episcopal duplicity are exposed in the media – including blogdom – that action is taken (reluctantly, one suspects).
Lord, help us!
“Father” Lastiri’s flexible sexuality was well known to the diocese as far back as October 2003. If you have the stomach, you can review his perverted history at [url=http://www.rcf.org]http://www.rcf.org[/url] It was only after his embezzling was uncovered (in August 2004) that the diocese took action. Follow the money.
I think it’s possible that many bishops don’t actually see themselves as “successors to the apostles” so much as CEO’s. Keeping the trains running on time, balancing the books, etc. What does having a promiscious homosexual on the staff cost a diocese? Not much, apparently.
Incidentally, Bishop Steinbock authored a heated letter defending “father” Lastiri against charges he was using parish money and resources in furthering his gay life style – last time I checked there has been no apology.
Retarded is a mild term when describing this so-called shepherd.
“There is nothing new under the sun”
Sadly, I think as Catholics we should be aware of the historic fact that while there have been many saintly bishops, there have been many more who were playing for the other team, including a number of Bishops of Rome!! Yes it is scandalous, but it is the result of our fallen state, and all we can do is pray for Pope Benedict (who is a Saintly Bishop) that the Holy Ghost aid him in his selection of men for the episcopate, so that we are give more men who are street lights along the road to Heaven rather than cobblestones on the way to hell.