INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
Indianapolis Star [Indianapolis, IN]
December 9, 2022
By Lynn Starkey
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has apparently prioritized their anti-LGBT stance rather than addressing their pedophile priest scandal. Here’s a recent example of how this plays out:
Father David Marcotte was suspended from his ministry as an Archdiocese of Indianapolis Catholic priest in February 2019, due to allegations of sexual abuse of a minor in 2016.
In October 2019, Marcotte was arrested and charged with three felony counts: child solicitation (Level 5 felony), vicarious sexual gratification (Level 5 felony), and dissemination of matter harmful to minors (Level 6 felony).
Then on Nov. 9, Marcotte was sentenced to a year of home detention and 18 months probation under a plea agreement for the lesser Level 6 felony. The plea agreement allows Marcotte to avoid prison time and avoid registering as a sex offender. The parents of the young male victim begged the judge to reject the plea agreement, to no avail. Notably, Marcotte’s defense team included James Voyles, “Lawyer of the Stars,” whose previous clients include Mike Tyson, Curtis Hill and Jim Irsay.
There is sadness, injustice and irony on multiple levels here.
First and foremost, our hearts go out to the young male victim and his parents. Childhood sexual abuse is obviously incredibly difficult to fully move beyond, if ever.
Secondly, the pedophile priest scandal has been a scourge for the Catholic Church for centuries. The 2018 USCCB document “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” acknowledges that “the sexual abuse of children and young people by some deacons, priests, and bishops, and the ways in which these crimes and sins were addressed, have caused enormous pain, anger, and confusion for victims, their families, and the entire Church.” It then sets forth the mandate that “for even a single act of sexual abuse of a minor — whenever it occurred — which is admitted or established after an appropriate process in accord with canon law, the offending priest or deacon is to be permanently removed from ministry and, if warranted, dismissed from the clerical state.”
Indeed, the most direct way to address the pedophile priest scandal is to fully enforce legal and clerical consequences. We now know the legal consequences of Marcotte’s crime. However, there is no word yet from Archbishop Charles Thompson as to Marcotte’s clerical status. Will Marcotte be dismissed from the priesthood? Or will Marcotte be allowed to return to the priesthood?
And now for the ironic part. During that 2018-2019 school year, Marcotte was chaplain, classroom religion teacher and administrative council member at Roncalli High School, while also serving at SS Francis and Clare Parish. This was the same year that Shelly Fitzgerald and I were fired from Roncalli High School after someone turned Shelly’s marriage license in to their parish priest, and I was then asked about my marital status. Marcotte appeared to be instrumental in banishing Shelly from the Roncalli campus and in prohibiting students to display any 1½ inch rainbow heart stickers within the school, in support of Ms. Fitzgerald.
Archbishop Charles Thompson has resolutely supported the termination of archdiocesan LGBT employees who lawfully accessed their legal marriage rights. Surely he will be as resolute in terminating his pedophile priest.
Finally, this timely statement from Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests merits serious consideration:
“We urge Catholic officials in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis to begin the process of removing this offender [David Marcotte] from the clerical state, which would be taking initiative and showing some responsibility for employing this perpetrator. We also feel that church officials have an obligation to share where Marcotte will be living during his home detention and if the Diocese will be responsible for his expenses during this time. Moral responsibility demands nothing less.”
Lynn Starkey is a longtime educator whose service included 40 years at Roncalli High School.
