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LucyP
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| Posted: Dec 11 2008 at 5:26pm | IP Logged
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An email list I am on, had an email forwarded saying that a priest from New York is being persecuted and sent to a psychiatric hospital for just being an orthodox Cathilic priest. Is that kind of thing common? Has anyone heard of that sort of thing before? I can't see how a Cardinal can just order someone to a mental hospital for no reason whatsoever anyway - or how he could order someone there for a reason...unless it all works differently in the US - here doctors would need to section someone and they wouldn't do it just for being faithful to the magisterium or whatever.
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MaryM
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| Posted: Dec 11 2008 at 5:30pm | IP Logged
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Well, I don't know about this particular case, but yes there have been situations where what you are describing has happened. An orthodox priest might be labeled as rigid/unbending or something like that making it a mental issue. Of course there are all sides to a story. Hard to know what might be the truth.
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LucyP
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Mary, that's apparently what the Cardinal said - that the priest is "rigid". But I can see how you might think of a priest as difficult or not someone to send a sensitive person to or someone just dipping their toe into finding out about the Church - but to say they should be locked away in a psychiatric hospital? I am sure there is much much more to the story. I will pray for him and all at the parish.
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crusermom
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It is quite difficult in most states to lock someone up against their will - so I doubt that is true. You need to prove that someone is a danger to themselves or others. Their are some places just for priests to receive treatment. He may have voluntarily went to either a doctor or a place such as this to be evaluated.
I have heard of priests sent for therapy or a seminarian asked to leave because of being too rigid. But, I only heard one side of the story so I am not always sure what really happened.
Mary
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CrunchyMom
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I have had priests tell me that they were coached to give the proper responses to get into seminary. For instance, when asked about the ordination of women, they were told to say "I will obey the Magisterium of the Church"--for to express opposition to female ordination would label them as "too rigid" for the priesthood  Fortunately, in recent years, this isn't as prevalent as it was just a short time ago. There have been reforms in many seminaries.
However, I'm sure there are indeed priests who are so "rigid" as to require psychological evaluation since priests are as prone to problems as any other section of society; so, while my radar tends to light up at the phrase, we can't know the whole of any individual situation.
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Barbara C.
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Someone is taking a similar story of a priest who was sent to a psychiatric hospital in 1979 by a state magistrate, not a Church magistrate. The story resurfaced recently because law suits relating to it were dismissed in November. Someone either accidentally or intentionally twisted the story. I am always very wary of any story about anyone that I receive as part of a mass mailing.
Here is the actual story.
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LucyP
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| Posted: Dec 13 2008 at 12:31pm | IP Logged
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Barbara, the priest concerned in the story I heard is I think quite young, he was made a priest in his parish in 2006, and that is not his name or area. But, yes I think the story is not so simple or frightening as it sounds, and what made me saddest was the reaction as usual as if that is exactly what bishops and cardinals do spend their time doing. Lucy x
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Barbara C.
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If you received a forwarded e-mail, I would still be rather reticent about it's accuracy. It seems that something like that would be easier to trace if it's being passed around. I'm just saying that someone could be taking that story and modernizing into a new urban legend.
Furthermore, a Cardinal can not have a priest committed without his permission. It would have be a legal issue decided in court. You can not administer any sort of medical help against a person's wishes without having them declared mentally deficient in a court of law. A Cardinal could order and pressure under the vow of obedience, though.
And I just thought of something else. In Michael D. O'Brien's story "Father Elijah" American orthodox priests are ordered to enter psychiatric hospitals for being "too rigid". It's supposed to be a sign of the apocalypse.
I don't know. This whole story just smells fishy to me. Of course, after all the junk that went around during this last election, I am very skeptical of anything on e-mail that can't be independently verified. We all know how people like to show how "bad", "intimidating", and "dictatorial" the Catholic Church is.
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Anyone know if this is true?
