News and commentary on Religion, especially Southern religion.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Catholic/Southern Baptist confidentiality agreements

Southern Baptist Convention executive salaries and protestant sexual abuse are not the only ecclesiastical secrets hidden behind confidentiality agreements. The New York Times reported today the story of "a woman whose son (now sick with cancer) was fathered by her former lover, a still-active Franciscan priest."

Mollie Wilson O'Reilly at dotCommonWeal called our attention to the church's abusive concealment of that woman's plight. The NYT reported:

Ms. Bond’s case offers a rare look at how the church goes to great lengths to silence these women, to avoid large settlements and to keep the priests in active ministry. She has 23 years of documents, depositions, correspondence, receipts and photographs relating to her case, which she has kept in meticulous files.
Those files reveal that the church was tightfisted with her as she tried to care for her son, particularly as his cancer treatments grew more costly. But they also show that Father Willenborg suffered virtually no punishment, continuing to serve in a variety of church posts.
The church entity Ms. Bond dealt with is the Order of Friars Minor, commonly known as the Franciscans, whose members were known as mendicants because they survived on handouts from the communities they served.
“I know better than Franciscans what it’s like to beg, because nothing has happened without my begging the Franciscans,” said Ms. Bond, who is 53.

O'Reilly responds:

How many other confidentiality agreements are hiding stories like this one? What should the Church be doing about it? What would you want done if this were your pastor?

How many?

In the world of the Southern Baptist Church, they're like cockroaches.

Likewise in Catholic world, they keep scurrying out, year after year.

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