The Boston Globe quotes unnamed sources as saying that the accused murder, Paul Nolin, had a sexual relationship with the priest who had hired him as a handyman at his parish. But I think agree with Nolin’s lawyer that such a relationship does not destroy the priest-penitent privilege, at least in the Church’s eyes. But it does muddy the waters. Perhaps only things said in the confessional are privileged and anything said outside the confessional, even if they touch on the same subjects, are not. I don’t know how that would work.
The lawyer for the other priest involved, Fr. Donald Turlick, denies that Nolin had a sexual relationship with the first priest, Fr. Bernard Kelly. (Turlick was Nolin’s therapist in Bridgewater state institution for the sexually dangerous, yet maintained a social relationship after his release.)
“Paul Nolin had a big circle of friends, young and old, men and women in Falmouth,” said English, Turlick’s attorney. “First, they say he’s a pedophile; now they say he’s with an old man. Not everybody who knows each other is having sex.”[Emphasis added]
They don’t just “say” Nolin is a pedophile. He brutally raped and traumatized a 10-year-old boy for which he was sent to prison for 18 years and for which he was supposedly receiving treatment by her client, Turlick. The lawyer’s statement is also a nice example of a Clintonian non-denial denial. She doesn’t actually say they weren’t having sex. Neither does she say that Nolin was in an intimate relationship with anyone else, male or female.
Keep repeating yourself: Pedophilia has nothing to do with homosexuality.
Meanwhile, the Boston Herald quotes the spokesman for the Diocese of Fall River responding to questions as to why Fr. Kelly was allowed to hire a convicted child rapist to work at his parish.
“Sometimes you have to reach out for someone who is having difficulty in his life. But that’s the call of each pastor,” Kearns said.
Just when you think they might have gotten a clue, they go and prove you wrong. Can you imagine anyone who works in a chancery, almost two years into the Scandal, continuing to make excuses for allowing a child rapist to work at a parish? It’s not like the guy had a problem with the bottle. He had been imprisoned for almost two decades for raping a 10-year-old boy. Let’s make it simple: anyone who has a criminal record for sexual abuse of a child should not be allowed to work or volunteer in a parish. He is quite welcome to come sit in the pews and partake of the sacraments.
