Monday, November 26, 2018

George Neumayr On The New Chains Of Paternity

One concern I've had in trying to stay informed on the current crisis is that the more useful books on the First Crisis, like Engel's The Rite of Sodomy, Lawler's The Faithful Departed, and various writings from A W Richard Sipe, are close to a generation out of date. Engel does list chains of paternity, but most of the names are now retired, dead, or out of the active priesthood.

I've seen George Neumayr primarily as a Washington-based anti-Wuerl gadfly, but more recently he seems to have picked up his game and is widening his field. The most recent example is a piece in The American Spectator, The Stench From CupichChurch. Earlier, he'd focused on Joseph Tobin and his sometime Italian roommate -- and in the course of his reportorial efforts, he seems to have succeeded in getting him banished from the rectory.

Now he's taken on Cardinal Cupich.

It was McCarrick who whispered in the pope’s ear about appointing the relatively obscure Cupich to the immensely important archdiocese of Chicago. Overnight this appointment turned the nebbishy Cupich into the most powerful cardinal in America.
I love the nebbishy part. As someone who spent a career in corporate politics, he reminds me of the temporary favorite of mahogany row, the kind of guy who has a certain kind of trademark good hair and always stands up flashing it at meetings. (That's led me to wonder if Cupich has a toupee -- I don't think so, after study, but it's such a contrived image that it may as well be one.) But as I've said before, I don't think he has staying power, and if Neumayr is on his case, I don't see a bright future for the guy.

But more important, he goes on to list new chains of paternity.

Not a single McCarrick crony has been demoted under Pope Francis. Some of them, such as Paterson (New Jersey) Bishop Arthur Serratelli, preside over openly corrupt dioceses. A wispy protégé of McCarrick’s, Serratelli is known for, among other acts of astonishing corruption, making Fr. Hernan Arias, a credibly accused gay predator, his vocations director. Arias no longer holds that post, but he remains pastor of St. Margaret of Scotland despite the fact that he is under Vatican investigation for an allegation of sexual assault against a college student who was thinking about becoming a priest. Serratelli knew about this charge before he made Arias vocations director, according to a source close to the Paterson chancery.

Arias is so close to Serratelli that people in the know in the diocese refer to him as “Mrs. Serratelli” or the “First Lady,” said this source. “Serratelli, Arias, and Edgar Rivera (the current vocations director) go on vacation every year together to the Dominican Republic,” added this source.

The whereabouts of Arias are not known, even though on paper he remains St. Margaret’s pastor. Another corrupt Paterson priest on the run is Fr. Patrick Ryan, who (I’m told by well-placed Paterson sources) is under state investigation for embezzling money from St. James of the Marches parish to finance his gay lifestyle. “He has been ripping off the second collection for years, and with some of that money bought a house for his gay lover,” according to a chancery-connected source.

This goes to one of the problems in just writing off adult same-sex conduct as "consensual". Financial scandals stemming from a wish to put a boyfriend in a house aren't unheard of. In addition,
Why did Ryan leave Albany for Paterson? Speculation abounds. “He used to cruise parks up there,” says one priest. Another source suspects that Ryan got to Paterson on a “prisoner exchange” — a trade of deviant priests undertaken by former bishops of Paterson and Albany designed to keep inquiring cops at bay.
This is another exposure that results from gay priests, the potential for lewd conduct arrests in parks and restrooms. This resonates, to be sure, with the case of the two Chicago priests arrested for just this in Miami last September,
In a statement, the Archdiocese of Chicago said Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, who serves as the ninth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago, immediately removed Berrio from ministry and withdrew his ability to minister.

The Archdiocese of Chicago also said it has told Giraldo-Cortez's home diocese in Soacha that Giraldo-Cortez will "not be granted additional faculties to minister."

"It is our responsibility to ensure those who serve our people are fit for ministry. We take this matter very seriously and will provide updates as they become available," the Archdiocese of Chicago wrote.

Do you mean to say the Archdiocese of Chicago had no inkling that these two guys were unfit for ministry before their arrest for public lewdness?