I'm gonna say that the NYT buries the lede in a story itself buried at the bottom of page B6, but the story is so full of unanswered questions, not to mention examples of the abuse of the law (both civil and ecclesiastic) and the arrogance of church officials that it's difficult to single out a single outrage. Nevertheless, I decided to go with the Guiliani angle.
The story concerns a priest, Msgr Alan Placa, who was barred by a local Bishop from acting as a priest and representing himself as a priest after he was accused of molesting boys. As if this were not bad enough, Placa is an attorney who was "a key strategist in the diocese who protected abusive priests and fended off victims' complaints." Amazingly, Placa's case was never formally addressed by the church or the courts, either, although the Suffolk County grand jury described him as an abuser. (How could this happen?! They describe him as an abuser, but no charges are ever filed against him?!!!) In other words, Placa's only punishment was to be barred from practicing or identifying himself as a priest, although the church never formally adjudicated the case either.
Placa is in the news today because a victims group has discovered that Placa now lives at St. Aloysius church in LI. The church lists Placa with the title "Rev. Msgr." prominently on their bulletin and on its website under "Our Pastoral Staff." His name and phone number appears just below the parish pastor's and ahead of seven other staff members. So, he "lives in the church," is identified by the church as a "Rev. Msgr." who is part of "our staff" Most people would say that Placa is not meeting the church's own restrictions. However, the spokesmen for the Bishop--who placed restrictions on Placa and who still oversees the archdiocese that includes St. Aloysius--responded by saying, "The issue is him not presenting himself as a priest, and he's not doing that." Besides, "He's been listed that way in the past seven years uncontested. He's still a monsignor,; he's still a priest there. It hasn't been a problem in the past." So he's still a priest, but he's not representing himself as a priest even though the church bulletin calls him a priest and part of "our staff." And even if he is representing himself as a priest, he's been getting away with it for seven years, so leave him alone already. Head spinning, yet? Good. Now this:
"After leaving his diocesan post, Monsignor Placa has worked for Giuliani Partners, the Manhattan consultants headed by Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor. The firm's spokeswoman said that Monsignor Placa would not comment."
Monsignor Placa would not comment. <i>Monsignor</i>?
But he's not representing himself as a priest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/17/nyregion/17church.html
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