Hypocrites

The leaders of the San Diego diocese that denied a gay man a funeral service in one of its churches issued a statement today listing the transgressions they perceived the man had committed. Among them: Porn stars were scheduled to make an appearance at one of his bars, a porn video was reportedly filmed at his other club (this claim has not been substantiated) and his advertising carried the slogans "Real Men, No Rules!" and "Tired of Playing with Boys, Come Play with Men!" I'm sorry, but these don't seem like major transgressions to me. Considering that last slogan, is it possible the church leaders were in a tiff over the veiled reference to them? I mean, who else do you know who are commonly caught playing with boys?

1 Corinthians says: "Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud or rude. Love isn't selfish or quick-tempered. It doesn't keep a record of wrongs that people do."

So, I won't be offering any sort of list here. But I will be copying what John Aravois at AMERICAblog has uncovered about the diocese's bishop. It seems he won't be eligible for a funeral in any of his own diocese's churches, lest the appearance that the diocese condones


San Diego Bishop Who Refused Funeral for Gay Man Settled High-Priced Sex Suit

My oh my.

The Bishop settled a sexual abuse lawsuit for $100,000, while claiming that an investigation proved his innocence. Yet, rather than use that rock-solid evidence to prove his innocence and clear his good name, and the good names of other high-ranking clergy, he and the other clergy chose to pay off the young man who accused them of forcing him to have sex with them. Yes, "young man."

Now, we have no way of knowing if Bishop Brom did or didn't in essence commit date rape on this young man. You'll have to look at the facts and try to decide that for yourself. But it is interesting, in the context of him refusing a funeral for a gay man.

We report, you decide.

From the Dallas Morning News in 2002:

BISHOP ROBERT BROM
He is one of about a dozen U.S. bishops who have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent years. Catholic leaders in Minnesota, where Bishop Brom once headed the Diocese of Duluth, have paid a settlement to a former seminarian who alleged that he was coerced into sex.

A spokeswoman for the bishop recently told The Boston Globe that "minimal insurance" money was paid to the accuser, who agreed to retract his claim. Two archbishops who helped negotiate the deal in the mid-1990s said the man received roughly $100,000. The man alleged that in the 1980s, Bishop Brom and other high-ranking clergymen pressured him and other young men to have sex at a seminary in Winona, Minn. Bishop Brom has denied any sexual misconduct and has said that an investigation disproved what the former seminarian "thought he remembered."

In San Diego after Bishop Brom took over, questions arose about how his top aides handled the 1993 case of the Rev. Emmanuel Omemaga, who was accused of raping a 14-year-old girl after her grandfather's funeral, tying her to a bed and photographing her in bondage. The diocese has said it suspended the priest when it first learned of the accusation, then let him go home to the Philippines on vacation.

Police, meanwhile, began investigating and asked a priest who was one of the bishop's aides to alert them immediately upon Father Omemaga's return. "He agreed to do so" but instead waited five days, according to a police report. At that point, according to the report, the aide left a message saying that he had told the wanted man to call police and to consult an attorney. Father Omemaga vanished and remains the target of an arrest warrant. The aide has said he did everything he could do to bring his fellow priest to justice.

I did a little more digging on the good Bishop and found that whether or not he's a date rapist, he sure sounds like a liar.From the SD Union-Tribune, July 4, 2002 (via Lexis):

Less than three weeks after Bishop Robert Brom assured parishioners that no large settlements have been paid out in priest abuse cases since he took over 12 years ago, the Catholic diocese has acknowledged that a man who said he was molested as a boy received $250,000 in December.... Neither Brom nor Bernadeane Carr, the diocese's spokeswoman, would answer questions yesterday. "We don't have any further comments," Carr said.

Link --> http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/03/san-diego-bishop-who-refused-funeral.html