Friday, May 20, 2005
RELEASED OFFENDER HIRED BY DIOCESE
From QCTimes.com:
A priest in the Catholic Diocese of Davenport — recently released from federal prison for possession of child pornography on a diocese-owned laptop — has been rehired by the diocese for janitorial work at its headquarters.
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Diocese leaders decided to employ the Rev. Richard Poster, 40, in the maintenance department of its Pastoral Center, 2706 N. Gaines St., as they await a decision from the Vatican about a request to remove him from the priesthood, spokesman David Montgomery said.
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“(Poster) has direct supervision without contact with children and without access to computers,” Montgomery said in a written statement. “Father Poster will be assigned job duties that are consistent with special conditions of his release, as required by his probation officer.”
Representatives of victims of clergy sexual abuse are not pleased.
I'm not sure I agree with their displeasure. Supervision? Absolutely. Separation from children? Without question. No access to the sources of his sinfulness? That's a given. But what's wrong with him pulling weeds and mowing the grass? Especially in a place where everyone knows the story so there will be many people noting what he is doing. It would be a very humbling experience to become the janitor in the place where you had once been a leader. Humbling to the point of being instrumental in his cure? Only time could answer that question. But becoming a janitor is not the same as continuing to function as a priest. A janitor does not have a role of power and godlike respect, unlike a priest. I'm inclined to see this employment as a positive rather than a negative. As a way of taking care of our own responsibilities. As a way to forgiveness and atonement rather than to retribution.
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