What a clueless creep! Bishop Trautman does not get it. One of his priests is let off for molesting a minor on a technicality, and his response is to start bashing the folks who reported it about ethics?? They sidestep talking about the real issue - an adult taking advantage of someone who was underage - and have the unmitigated gall to think that they have somehow been wronged.
This would be the same group that talks about the sanctity of marriage, while lambasting gay folks. See, to be taken seriously, guys, it would be really helpful not to have sex with kids, and not to evade responsibility for same. Just sayin'. I think I am more angry with the Bishop, since he presumably should know better. Someone who is a pedophile has to have some major things wrong with their thinking, but a non-pedophile who can look at that situation and dive right into the technicality.
Can anyone explain why we should NOT be enraged by the bishop's response??
Sudden Switch
Prosecutor says he erred in interpreting new child sex-abuse lawBY ED PALATTELLA
ed.palattella@timesnews.comMEADVILLE -- In a sudden reversal, Crawford County District Attorney Francis Schultz has withdrawn child-corruption charges that state police filed against a former Roman Catholic priest over incidents that occurred nearly 40 years ago.
The withdrawal came six days after police filed the counts.
Schultz said he misinterpreted the law regarding the statute of limitations in having state police on March 12 charge Thomas E. Smith with fondling a boy between 1968 and 1970, when Smith was a priest.
"I made a mistake in applying the statute of limitations in the case," Schultz said Tuesday.
"We are very disappointed that we cannot avail ourselves of the new statute of limitations for crimes involving the sexual abuse of children," Schultz also said, in a statement issued by his office....
Bishop's response
Erie Catholic Bishop Donald W. Trautman on Tuesday issued a statement in which he sharply criticized the Erie Times-News' coverage of the charges against Smith.
Trautman said the newspaper's treatment of the case, including the reporting on the changes in the state law, demonstrated "an egregious disregard for accuracy in journalistic research, and an alarming lapse in ethics."
Trautman in his statement did not address Prenatt's allegations against Smith, who was ordained a priest in 1967. The diocesan spokesman, Monsignor Thomas McSweeney, said the diocese would have no comment on the charges.
Trautman in 2002 removed Smith from the ministry after an Erie man complained that Smith had molested him decades ago, when the man was a boy, according to correspondence previously published in the Erie Times-News. The Vatican in 2006 removed Smith as a priest through a process known as laicization.
"These are grave matters, but the Erie Times-News has lost credibility in dealing with them so unprofessionally," Trautman said in his statement Tuesday. "It has done a great disservice to all involved. We all expect a complete retraction, but the damage has been done."
"What we reported was accurate," Erie Times-News Managing Editor Pat Howard said. "Formal charges were filed by the Pennsylvania State Police, as we reported, based on the Crawford County district attorney's analysis that the new law could be applied retroactively.
"The situation changed the next day, and we're reporting the new developments with the same immediacy and standards we apply to any developing story."
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"an alarming lapse in ethics"
Well, hell, Trautman should be an expert on that, shouldn't he? ;)
I actually know this former priest. Myself and my mother have always thought him to be a bit of a creep / jerk toward women. No idea of his behavior toward youth - I seriously hope he has amended his past behavioral tendencies. His family attends the parish I grew up attending.
It's typical for the church to deny any wrongful behavior. I can't say I'm surprised in the least about the way this was handled.
It didn't surprise me one bit.