|

How priests and deacons should protect their rights

A. If the Vicar for Clergy (or another diocesan official) summons you to a
meeting after informing you that you have been accused of sexual abuse or
other misconduct; or, if you are summoned to a meeting without being given
the reason:
1) Immediately find yourself a competent canon lawyer.
2) You should also talk to a civil attorney, especially if there is a
possibility of a criminal case.
3) Take your civil attorney, your canonist or another reputable individual
such as a fellow priest with you to the meeting. This will provide you with
an independent witness to the proceedings and will limit the possibility
that the meeting is mischaracterized or inappropriately interpreted at a
later date. You should never go by yourself.
4) Request that the Vicar for Clergy put the purpose of the meeting,
including any and all specific allegations, in writing. If the Vicar for
Clergy refuses to comply with this request, and you and your counsel decide
to meet nonetheless, take careful notes. Immediately after the meeting,
compose a document summarizing your notes and stating that the Vicar for
Clergy refused to disclose the purpose of the meeting beforehand and/or that
no specific allegations were provided to you in writing. Request that the
Vicar for Clergy enter this document into your personnel file at the
diocese.
5) Know that nothing you say to any agent of the diocese is considered
legally confidential. Make no statements before consulting with your
canonist and your attorney.
6) During the meeting, neither confirm nor deny anything; nor make any
decisions or agreements. Just listen.
7) Inform the Vicar for Clergy that you will expect to review your entire
diocesan personnel file, and any other records kept about you in the
Chancery, Tribunal, or Vicar for Clergy office, when you meet. It is
possible that your file contains written complaints or allegations about
which you were never informed, even though you have the right to be informed
of any such allegations. This is very often ignored.

Similar Posts

Association of U.S. Catholic Priests criticize head of doctrinal congregation for rebuke of LCWR

ACP News
4 Comments

The Catholic News Service carries a story about the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests making their views known to Pope Francis about CDF’s Cardinal Müller’s “self-confessedly blunt” remarks to the leaders of about 57,000 women religious in the U.S.A.

We Are Church – “open all ministries to women”

Articles
1 Comment

‘We are Church’ in call to bishops; “The continued exclusion of women from all ministries including the priesthood and from executive functions in the Catholic Church is an injustice that must be ended. How can our Church continue to proclaim global justice for the marginalised when it accepts an injustice within the Church that marginalises half of its own members” 

Sean McDonagh, Tony Flannery interviewed by Miriam O’Callaghan on RTE Radio 1

ACP News, Editor's Choice
10 Comments

Sean McDonagh and Tony Flannery spoke today with Miriam O’Callaghan on RTE Radio 1.
Tony said that the Church in Ireland is “in a state of utter collapse”, with people “leaving the Church in droves”, and action is needed to change this. They said the Catholic Church also needs to apologise for how it has treated women and give them more power in the Church.

Join the Discussion

Keep the following in mind when writing a comment

  • Your comment must include your full name, and email. (email will not be published). You may be contacted by email, and it is possible you might be requested to supply your postal address to verify your identity.
  • Be respectful. Do not attack the writer. Take on the idea, not the messenger. Comments containing vulgarities, personalised insults, slanders or accusations shall be deleted.
  • Keep to the point. Deliberate digressions don't aid the discussion.
  • Including multiple links or coding in your comment will increase the chances of it being automati cally marked as spam.
  • Posts that are merely links to other sites or lengthy quotes may not be published.
  • Brevity. Like homilies keep you comments as short as possible; continued repetitions of a point over various threads will not be published.
  • The decision to publish or not publish a comment is made by the site editor. It will not be possible to reply individually to those whose comments are not published.