A far cry from "open & transparent"
Last month, officials with a Catholic religious order, the Third Order Franciscans (based in Loretto, Pennsylvania), picked up Fr. David Morrier at the Jefferson County jail in Steubenville Ohio.
A fellow Franciscan, Fr. Joseph Lehman, 'escorted' Fr. Morrier to "a church facility in Franklin County, Missouri.
Fr. Morrier had just been sentenced for "committing sex crimes" against a vulnerable young woman between 2010 and 2013. He was sentenced to five years of probation, deemed a Tier 3 sex offender, and ordered to register as a sex offender every 90 days for the rest of his life."
https://bit.ly/3c6h1aY
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/2022/03/former-franciscan-friar-morrier-sentenced-on-sex-crimes/
(For copies of the actual court records, contact Terry at SteubenvilleSurvivors@proton.me or SNAPjudy@gmail.com)
No Catholic official, high or low, in Pennsylvania or Ohio, disclosed this.
No Catholic official, high or low, in Missouri disclosed this.
It was the "openness and transparency" of our jutsice system and the news media that we know this. And Fr. Morrier's not the first proven predator priest to be sent to this secretive Catholic center.
Nor is he the most prominent. That distinction belongs to Cardinal Ted McCarrick.
Go to SNAPnetwork.org and enter "Dittmer" or "Robertsville" in the search box for a smattering of names of predator priests who've been sent here to Missouri after molesting kids in other states (from Fr. Ronald Sam Gilardi of Salina KS to Fr. James McGreal of Seattle WA and many others).
https://www.snapnetwork.org/fact_sheet_church_center_mccarrick_currently_lives_jul21
Who cares?
Well, I hope Missourians, especially those who live near these centers for child molesting clerics, care. I especially hope that parents of innocent kids and vulnerable adults care.
And call me naive, but I hope that all Catholics care, especially those who are tempted to believe the relentless repititious pledges by prelates, dating back decades now, to be "open and transparent" when it comes to clergy sex crimes, sexual misconduct and cover ups.