Can a priest be banned from church?

4th June 2012   ·   0 Comments

By Fr. Jerome LeDoux
Contributing Columnist

Fr. Jerome,

I have prayed over what I have read on your Our Mother of Mercy website, before my decision to write to you. I’ve debated whether to write or not. The question is what would Jesus do?

As a Christian I am appalled and as a Catholic I am EVEN more grieved and shamed at the level of relentless destruction of a man once among your rank as a Catholic priest. I would have thought that you as an African-American Catholic priest would resist the temptation to pander to a white racist church that covered its own pedophile priests, while using Fr. Inametti as a ‘patsy’ for all the ‘wrongs’ its own priests have done through the years. At least he humbly admitted to his sins before the Holy church and the entire world. What about the priests who have not been caught with their ‘hands in the cookie jar?’ I am wondering why the ‘white’ priests did not receive the same condemnation as Fr. Inametti?

I am beginning to lose faith as a longtime ‘white’ Catholic in ‘our’ Holy Mother church. Or is it only holy for certain races? Where is the ‘true’ church of Christ where sinners are welcome and restored to grace?? Where is the church where Jesus reached out to the Apostles who betrayed, denied, and fled behind closed doors, and yet He offered them His peace and forgiveness. What happened to “that church?”

Your ‘brother’ you posted these disparaging comments about, at the urging of the diocese, had sinned and he is the first to admit it. But let me ask, how many of you are WITHOUT SIN? (hidden sin with boys/men or yes, even WOMEN.)

Shouldn’t you Father, be spending your time filling Our Mother of Mercy website with uplifting spiritual messages? Instead of bashing a fellow priest?

Fr. Inametti was not an angel as he stated in one of the divine mercysermons, that he gave so well some years ago. Our Mother of Mercy Church is where it is today, thanks to his tenacity, hard work and dedication. I think ‘our’ Catholic community will be well served if the diocese would live up to the mandate given by our Lord Jesus, to go after the lost sheep and bring them back, so His Father’s house is full again. I think Jesus added that there will be great rejoicing over one repentant sinner, than over a hundred who had no need of repentance.

Finally, I want to leave you with this question… as a church, is our mission for the SAVED or UNSAVED? What would Jesus have ME do, and what would Jesus have YOU do, in this particular case? Would He have us join the crowd in condemnation or would He have us find ways to restore him to grace?

Sincerely,

‘Concerned and Disappointed Catholic.’

Dear Concerned and Disap­pointed Catholic,

Some of your points are well taken, but some are inaccurate and a few are false. First of all, it is unthinkable that this or any other diocese or church would want to exclude from church property anyone who comes there repentant and desiring to be a member. You are right in saying that is the very essence of Jesus’ mandate to us.

However, that is not what the diocese was talking about. They were addressing the dilemma created by Father Inametti when he was celebrating Mass without faculties in his home, inviting people to become part of his personally-gathered group. The diocese did not want him to come to ours or another parish while presenting himself as a priest. He is free to come to us or any other parish as a layperson willing to make amends.

This is not a Black or white thing. Online church statistics show that very few black priests have been defrocked. By a ratio of perhaps fifty or more to one, it is white priests who have been de­frocked — all because they were a threat to church com­munities as priests, but not as laypersons. Of course, the white priests greatly outnumber the Black.

The question is not who is without sin, but who is not a moral risk to the community. In Matthew 18:17, even Jesus ostracized those who struggle against the common good.

I have visited a handful of parishes where some former priests form part of the Faith Community, fitting in well with everyone else. Far from being averse to situations such as these, any diocese or parish welcomes them. Let us all pray for one another.

This article was originally published in the June 4, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper