A priest who admitted having sex with a teen boy 10 years ago has been returned to ministry in Melbourne, Australia. Now, Archbishop Denis Hart is in charge in Melbourne, and he’s generally regarded as a good bishop. Still, I’m not sure it’s appropriate for such a man to return to active ministry. Hart says that the priest, Father Barry Robinson, has undergone “intensive and successful treatment.”
Are homosexual priests who had sex with underage boys redeemable? Should they ever be returned to ministry? Is this the “unforgivable sin”? Are there other unforgivable acts too? I don’t have the answers but they are questions with important ramifications.
Update: The priest has resigned from the parish at his own request.
Are they redeemable? I’d have to say that seems to me a clear yes. I don’t recall Christ saying he came to forgive some sins and not others.
That said, It is an entirely different question whether they should be allowed to return to public ministry. I think that is a clear no. According to the psychologist I used to work for, who worked extensively with sex offenders, the experts generally agree that this is an incurable illness. There is no such thing as successful treatment, just as there is no such thing as a cured alcoholic.
I think it is clear that the bishops have a duty not only to protect their flock but also to help the priests avoid any occasion for sin. That is the only prudent course.
This is an unbelievable (no, actually, I should have said completely believable) outrage. Any sin can be forgiven a repentant sinner, even the most disgusting and awful. But to put forward a KNOWN HOMOSEXUAL BOY MOLESTOR as a priest is WRONG AND STUPID AND A BETRAYAL OF ALL CATHOLIC FAMILIES EVERYWHERE. This is exactly what the bishops have been doing for years. EVERY PARENT SHOULD BE WARNED ABOUT THIS MAN’S PAST, AND NO SANE PARENT WOULD ALLOW THIS MAN TO BE IN CLOSE QUARTERS WITH THEIR SONS. So here you have it. This is your priest, the PEDERAST. OUR CHILDREN ARE THE LAST, LAST PRIORITY IN THIS CHURCH. I AM NAUSEATED. THE LEADERS OF MY CHURCH ARE INSANE.
THROW THESE PERVERT CHILD MOLESTORS IN JAIL, WHERE THEY BELONG.
Let him return to Boston, plead guilty to the crime he has admitted and serve every day of the sentence which is imposed on him, and offer the suffering up in partial atonement for the crime.
When that’s done, then we’ll examine the question of reinstatement.
Barry Robinson is a fugitive.
Are these men disabled and unable to work in any job?
These aren’t pending investigations, but investigations which concluded that the abuse happened. They are laicized priests: “former priests” in the text of the article.
They have had canonical law due process.
“This is a really hard question. Weefense irrespective of their age(s).
Hi michigancatholic – I’ll answer that question. What makes these characters think that Catholics will pay for things like this is that Catholics continue to pay for things like this. These characters play off of the laziness and trust of lay Catholics. Bottom line – since the leadership in many cases continues to be morally bankrupt, change will only come when lay Catholics insist upon it.
and when we start giving our children proper education about Catholicism so they have an idea of what to insist upon, instead of the majority of catholics being so undereducated about their beliefs that they really don’t know what catholic beliefs are.