In Wisconsin, a priest accused of sex abuse has joined a schismatic group, the Evangelical Catholic Church (sic). Joseph Collova was suspended by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, but it’s unclear whether he was formally laicized. However, the archdiocese says that by being ordained in another religion, he is excommunicated.
Collava was never criminally charged and a civil suit was dismissed because of the statute of limitations. Even so, the leader of this new church, who claims he was a sex abuse victim himself, welcomed Collova.
So what do you do? If he abuses someone in the future, who gets blamed? Or more bluntly, sued? You can bet someone will try to make the argument that the Catholic Church (the real one) should have prevented him from engaging in ministry in a different religion. Sorry, the Church is universal, but not all powerful.
Um, good riddance. Dump him off our rolls quick. He clearly converted to something else, left of his own accord, and we’re not responsible for his sorry carcass anymore.
The catholic church is no more guilty if this derelict does something in the future than a high school is for its former students.
The problem belongs to the church dumb enough to take this guy in (or want to hang onto him, God forbid). It should stop being us getting stuck with all the criminals and lowlifes.
We love our good priests and we have plenty of them. We don’t need failures like this guy.