Word: bishopate
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Worse than the loss of money are the feeling of betrayal and the erosion of esteem for priests among many parishioners. The potential for such spiritual devastation escalated considerably last week, as a federal civil lawsuit was filed against Honolulu bishop Joseph A. Ferrario, 65, the first member of the U.S. hierarchy to face a sex-abuse suit. A spokesman for the bishop said in response, "These are old allegations, made by the same people. The bishop has denied them every time...
...bishop's accuser is David Figueroa, 32, a cook living in Florida who has tested HIV-positive. He first made charges against Ferrario anonymously in 1989 and went public on Geraldo Rivera's TV show last year. Now he has decided to try to make his charges stick, in detail and under oath. "No amount of money will make up for what he's taken from me," says Figueroa. "He used me. He ruined my life...
...died, but Ferrario, his successor, continued the sex abuse for years, paying Figueroa for odd jobs in return. Ferrario also aided Figueroa in quitting high school just before graduation and joining the gay community in San Francisco. Figueroa alleges that the sexual entanglement continued even after Ferrario became a bishop, with trysts at church residences in Honolulu and Menlo Park, Calif. Figueroa's lawyers claim other witnesses will corroborate his version of the bishop's conduct...
...many others. The Episcopal convention will debate a conservative counterblast from 60 bishops, led by William Frey, dean of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in Ambler, Pa. The proposal would amend canon law to place all clergy "under the obligation to abstain from sexual relations outside of Holy Matrimony." Observes Frey: "Many of us believe that the sexual revolution has run its course, leaving in its wake thousands of broken marriages, a sharp rise in teenage pregnancies, millions of convenience- motivated abortions, a multibillion-dollar pornography industry and a mushrooming AIDS epidemic. What could be better news than the proclamation...
...notion of the church as a bulwark against America's voracious sexual culture is also taken up by Bishop Frey, leader of the Episcopal traditionalists. In a letter to fellow prelates he argues that "one of the most attractive features of the early Christian communities . . . was their radical sexual ethic and their deep commitment to family values. These things . . . drew many people to them who were disillusioned by the promiscuous excesses of what proved to be a declining culture. Wouldn't it be wonderful for our Church to find such countercultural courage today...