ARKANSAS
Bilgrimage
William D. Lindsey
Story from My Own Backyard: Arkansas Priest Removed from Ministry Due to “Multiple Acts of Sexual Misconduct” Is Outspoken Opponent of Gay Marriage
A disclaimer: I do not know Father James Melnick. I seem to have heard the name, but on the far margins to which our Catholic church has relegated us, Steve and I have little contact with the local institution. It is hard for a church to make anyone more unwelcome than to take away their livelihood and destroy their vocations (in our case, as Catholic theologians), while refusing to provide any reason for doing this (in my case) or providing specious, dishonest reasons (in Steve’s case).
It is hard to make people more unwelcome in your church than to proclaim that you love and accept everyone and respect the human rights of everyone, while you remove the daily bread from the mouths of a targeted minority group, blocking their ministries and vocations, expelling them from community, tarnishing their reputations, all while you, when you are a priest or a religious engaging in this reprehensible behavior, have the assurance of daily bread for yourself, of a job, a good reputation, a welcome to engage in ministry in the church. And when your theological educations were paid for by your diocese or religious community, while those of the lay theologians you are treating so unjustly were bought by great sacrifice and hard work — and you were assured of a job, as a priest or religious, the moment you finished your graduate education. Unlike those lay theologians.
As I say, from the margins to which Steve and I have been relegated as Catholic theologians, I don’t hear much about what’s going on in our local Catholic community. So I know nothing about Father James Melnick other than what is being reported in the local media and in this statement by Bishop Anthony Taylor last weekend.
I do not presume to judge James Melnick. I have no window into his soul. Judgment of people’s souls belongs to God alone.
But I do have some questions after I’ve read Bishop Taylor’s statement, which states that he has just removed Father Melnick from ministry after he was able to “verify multiple acts of sexual misconduct with multiple adult victims during the period of less than a year.” In particular, I have questions about what can possibly be going through the mind of a priest who engages in “multiple acts of sexual misconduct with multiple adult victims” when, at the very same time those acts of misconduct are taking place, he publishes a statement attacking (and here) the right of his fellow human beings who happen to have been made gay by God to enjoy the same privileges others may enjoy through civil marriage.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.