Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, auxiliary of Detroit and one of the most liberal and perhaps even heterodox bishops in the country, says he was sexually abused by a priest when he was younger. You could ask why he’s suddenly bringing it up now, four years after the Scandal broke into the national news, but there could be many reasons not to bring it up. Some people deal with such things by repressing them deeply, not dealing with them. Or they may consider it nobody else’s business and don’t want to trot out their life difficulties for general knowledge.
Evidently, it is the lifting of the statute of limitations on filing sex abuse claims that compelled Gumbleton to go public now. He told the Washington Post: “It could cost the church some money, but it also could bring a great deal of healing to a lot of victims.” The Church? And for financial purposes who is the Church? Us! Everyone in the pews. The bishops don’t have millions of dollars of their own money stashed away. Every penny in the coffers of every diocese comes from Catholics like you and me. I’m glad Gumbleton can be so flippant and free with our money that he thinks it should just be given away willy-nilly.
Are “minor” and “inappropriate” the right words?
Technorati Tags: bishops, Catholic, homosexuality, lawsuits, sex abuse
Let us all pray for Bishop Gumbleton. Hail Mary…
If Gumbleton thinks that was minor, he’s a moral idiot.
You hear of so many priests who were abused by priests, another ‘myth’ may be that perversion is not really injurious , but rather a means of increasing vocations to the priesthood!
My first thought was that Gumbleton is really hoping to completely bankrupt the American Church so that he and his adherents (i.e. the bad guys)can jump in, bail out w/ financial assistance and rewrite the Church according to their specifications. Those specifications would be 1. more gay friendly – if possible 2. women priests in effect if not in fact 3. married priests 4. complete chaos. It won’t be pretty.
Mary Alexander,
The Church already has married priests. Quite a few of them in fact. It has not been a major problem for the last 500 years or so.
The chaos seems to come and go as it pleases without married priests.
JBP
I don’t trust this at all. This story can’t be corroborated and I’d be shocked if Gumbleton ever mentions the name of this priest.
As a young victim of sexual abuse by a priest, Gumbleton’s past statements on homosexuality in the priesthood now reveal themselves to be bizarre as well as wrong:
Without being aware of it, untold numbers of people in the church have been blessed by the compassionate and healing ministry of gay priests and bishops. Ordinary common sense tells us that such ministry is of God. It is authentic and it is valid.
“Yes, Gay Men Should Be Ordained” – America Magazine, from a couple (?) of years ago. What is ironic is that in that same issue (which I have) there is a ‘counter-point’ to Bishop Gumbleton’s stance. So by publishing the two articles, America Magazine did what it did best (IMO) – rendered the topic issue a matter of opinion instead of a matter of what the Church teaches as Truth.
Duh! Three hours sleep last night. The way I wrote the above comment doesn’t make it clear that yes, Bishop Gumbleton wrote the referenced column (“Yes, Gay Men Should Be Ordained”) and within it, he states that he is a heterosexual.
Rome just needs to accept his retirement and let him fade away. Okay, so he was abused. I’m sorry to hear that. Obviously it had a lasting effect on his priesthood and subsequent ministry as a bishop. All the more reason to let him retire now. Give him his pension, send him on his way, and let him bless a few gymnasiums as a retired auxilliary bishop.
Agreed, Leander.
Let’s let the old man retire where he belongs and get on with being Catholic. I say this in all candor. There are quite a few that have had their day and had their say and just need to move over now.
What does Gumbleton do that he’d retire from? I gather the Archdiocese of Detroit doesn’t have him running anything and he just travels about the country spreading heterodoxy. If he’s officially retired, does anyone seriously think that would change?