Hit and Run Bishop Accused of Sex Abuse

Edit: this came in from Randy Engle.

FILE - In this March 26, 2004, file pool photo, Bishop Thomas O'Brien, center, is flanked by attorneys, Melissa Berren, left, and Tom Henze, right, as they stand before Judge Stephen Gerst in a courtroom in Phoenix. O'Brien, a former bishop who led the Roman Catholic church in metro Phoenix during a worldwide child sexual abuse scandal, has been accused of molesting a young boy 35 years ago. O'Brien is accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing the boy on several occasions at parishes in Phoenix and Goodyear from 1977 to 1982. The Diocese of Phoenix says O'Brien denies the allegation. (AP Photo/Mark Henle, Pool, File) more +

A former bishop who led the Roman Catholic church in metro Phoenix during a worldwide child sexual abuse scandal has been accused of molesting a young boy 35 years ago.

Retired Bishop Thomas O'Brien is accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing the boy on several occasions at parishes in Phoenix and Goodyear from 1977 to 1982. The Diocese of Phoenix says O'Brien denies the allegation.

O'Brien, now 81, led the diocese in Phoenix as it became embroiled in a global scandal that rocked the Catholic church after allegations surfaced in Boston about pedophile priests going unpunished.

The bishop acknowledged in a 2003 immunity deal that he let church employees accused of sex abuse continue to have contact with children. Weeks after the deal, O'Brien resigned as bishop after he was arrested in the hit-and-run death of a pedestrian.

O'Brien's accuser says the clergyman sexually abused him when he was a child and he had suppressed his memories of it, said Tim Hale, his lawyer.

The accuser, who is now 47 and lives in the Tucson area, started having flashbacks of the abuse in September 2014 when preparing for his son's baptism into the Catholic church, Hale said.

"It has turned his life upside down," Hale said, explaining that his client has suffered profound emotional distress.

Hale said his client's allegation is being investigated by the Phoenix Police Department, which refused to comment.

The diocese issued a statement saying O'Brien denies the accusation and that he was never assigned to the schools and parishes where the abuse is alleged to have occurred. The statement also said the diocese informed prosecutors about the allegation immediately after learning of it in September 2016.

O'Brien's 2003 immunity agreement said a grand jury investigating church sex abuse allegations at the time didn't find evidence that the bishop had engaged in sexual misconduct.

Amanda Jacinto, a spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, said the immunity deal will remain in place, meaning the bishop could not be prosecuted for letting church employees suspected of sex abuse be around children.

But Jacinto said the agreement would not prevent prosecutors from bringing a case against O'Brien if there's evidence that he sexually abused a child.

O'Brien, who served as Phoenix's bishop for 21 years, resigned in June 2003 after being accused of striking and killing 43-year-old Jim Reed with his car.

The bishop didn't stop to help Reed or report the accident to police but told investigators that he didn't realize he had hit a person.

He said he thought he had hit a dog or cat or that someone had thrown a rock at his car. Prosecutors said O'Brien tried to have his windshield fixed.

He was sentenced to probation and 1,000 hours of community service after being convicted of leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

John C. Kelly, an attorney representing the Diocese of Phoenix, declined to comment on the lawsuit and the allegations against O'Brien.

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Follow Jacques Billeaud at twitter.com/jacquesbilleaud. His work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/jacques%20billeaud .

Oremus: FSSP Priest Shot and Killed in Phoenix at Mater Misericordia

A 28-year-old priest was shot and killed and another wounded at a Catholic church Wednesday night near the state Capitol, a Phoenix police spokesman said.

Police were responding to a burglary call shortly after 9 p.m. near 16th Avenue and Monroe Street at the Mater Misericordiae (Mother of Mercy) Mission, Sgt. Steve Martos said.

The Diocese of Phoenix released a statement early Thursday morning identifying the slain priest as Father Kenneth Walker, who is listed as associate pastor at the Mother of Mercy Mission.

Link to ...

Bishop Olmsted to Head Congregation for Religious in Rome

Edit: this decision is already being lamented in certain quarters where it was already reported earlier last week, here, they say he's not going, and here.

(Vatican) The new Secretary of the important Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and for the Society of Apostolic Life, better known as the Congregation for Religious, will be the American Bishop Thomas James Olmsted of Phoenix in Arizona, USA.  The appointment by Pope Benedict XVI. comes immediately before, as La cigüeña de la torre reported.  Msgr Olmsted has made his name as a Traditional, loyal to Rome and militant Bishop.  The 1947 born ++Olmsted became a priest in 1973 and was named as Bishop Coadjutor of Wichita in 1999 by Pope John Paul II.  From 2001, the Diocesan Bishop of this Diocese was called to Phoenix.

Excommunication of a Nun: no false understanding of "freedom of conscience" concerning abortion

In 2010 he excommunicated a Nun, who was attempting to justify abortion as part of an Ethical Commission on unborn children.  Bishop Olmsted then clarified:  "The murder of an unborn child is immoral in any circumstance. The life of an unborn child is exactly as inviolable as that of his mother, no life may be subject to the other."

Since 2011 he established that only see males will serve at the altar in the Cathedral of Phoenix.  With that the Bishop discontinued the practice of female servers.  "Not because of any form of misogyny or hyserical clerical sexism, as some in ignorance of Catholic doctrinal teaching carelessly and hastily have charged,"  said the Bishop.  The service of the altar by young boys and lads has deep reaching roots in Church history, still long before there were seminaries providing a modern style of education for the priesthood, just as the Conciliar Fathers of the Council of Trent desired. [We've been saying this for years, here.] The service of the altar was seen as an "apprenticeship" and introductory step to the priesthood, so the Diocese of Phoenix said on the decision of the Bishop.  Bishop Olmsted belongs to those Bishops, who has already celebrated the Roman Rite in its Extraordinary Form [Immemorial Mass of All Ages].

No Female Servers:  The Service of the Altar is for the Church, the First Step into the Priesthood

Bishop Olmsted follows the American, Msgr. Joseph William Tobin to the office of the Secretary of the Congregation for Religious, who according to Rome, Msgr Tobin was dismissed from the Roman Curia, because of his too "soft" line against the rebellious US Women Religious. The Redemptorist (since 1952), who was the General Superior of the Redemptorists from 1997 to 2009, was call to Rome from where he was Archbishop of Indianapolis in Indiana. His activity in the Roman Curia remained a brief interlude.  Then in 2010 he was called to the Congregation of Religious, where he attempted there after the retirement of Cardinal Franc Rode to take a "soft" line in a tug of war with a progressive, feminist and at times drifting into obscure New Age movements, aging part of American Women Religious.  A position, which was not well-received in Rome and led to his dismissal.

Conflict with Rebellious Esoteric Deistic Feminist Nuns Has Priority

The situation that an American will again be called to an important position for Religious affairs after another American, underscores, that for Rome the resolution of the conflict with the rebellious part of the American Women Religious is a priority coming all the way from the top.

Text: Giuseppi Nardi
Bild: courageouspriest

Link...katholisches...

Bishop Olmstead Excommunicates Another Priest

Fr. Vernon Meyer, automatically excommunicated himself when he rejected the teachings of the Catholic Church concerning women ordination. Meyer participated in the “ordination” of Elaine Groppenbacher in Tempe, AZ last month. For Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, this is the fifth priestly excommunication for serious refusal of faithful obedience to the Catholic Church, according to The Arizona Republic.

Referring to Meyer, Bishop Olmsted states: “Actions such as these are extremely serious and carry with them profoundly harmful consequences for the salvation of the souls participating in this attempted ordination. To feign the conferral of the Sacrament of Holy Orders results in the penalty of excommunication. This penalty applies both to the person attempting the ordination and the person attempting to be ordained.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1577: “Only a baptized man validly receives sacred ordination. The Lord Jesus chose men to form the college of the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in their ministry. The college of bishops, with whom the priests are united in the priesthood, makes the college of the twelve an ever-present and ever-active reality until Christ’s return. The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason the ordination of women is not possible.”

Read further at Catholic Exchange...

What happened to Msgr Dale Fuschek?

Diogenes knows.

Former Diocese of Phoenix priest Dale Fushek is the founder of LifeTeen ministries. In 2005 he was charged with ten misdemeanor counts of criminal sexual mischief, which included indecent exposure, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and assault. One of the misdemeanors is alleged to have occurred in the hot tub of Fushek's parish rectory. I couldn't find the Sacerdotal Guidelines for Hot Tub Hospitality at the USCCB's website, but it would appear that Fushek would have failed in any case to abide by them.

Link to Diogenes...