UNITED STATES
Newsmax
By Greg Richter
Franciscan Father Benedict Joseph Groeschel, longtime host on Eternal Word Television Network and founder of Community of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal died Friday at age 81 after an extended illness, National Catholic Register reports.
“We are deeply saddened by the death of Father Benedict. He was an example to us all,” Father John Paul Ouellette of the Friars of the Renewal, said in a prepared statement. “His fidelity and service to the Church and commitment to our Franciscan way of life will have a tremendous impact for generations to come.”
Groeschel was ordained as a priest in the Detroit Capuchin province in 1959. He was an author and retreat master and was a host and guest on various EWTN programs for a quarter of a century. …
He stopped hosting EWTN’s “Sunday Night Prime” in 2012 after making controversial statements in the National Catholic Register that the minor is “the seducer” in many sexual abuse cases and that some abusers should not be jailed on their first offense “because their intention was not committing a crime.”
He apologized for those comments, as did members of his religious community, the Register and EWTN, “who stressed that the priest’s physical health and mental clarity were both declining, noting that his comments did not reflect his life’s work,” the Register noted.
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