Comments from a member of vestry, St. Paul's, Owego

Chris Peterson Says:
September 17th, 2005 at 9:23 pm

Bishop Adams has been trying to use allegations of financial misconduct in order to silence Father Bollinger. Everyone in the Cortland-Ithaca (NY) district, of which Father Bollinger was Dean, knows that these allegations are false, including the Bishop.

If the Bishop is successful in defrocking Father Dave, this message will have been sent to every Rector in the Diocese: cross me, and you’ll be thrown out. By any means, however dishonest.

Father Bollinger wanted to provide pastoral care to a parishioner abused by a former Rector at St. Paul’s (not the one immediately preceding Fr. Dave, BTW), and was essentially ordered not to by the Bishop.

We are all sinners, and all distort the image of Christ. But sexual predation by a priest is a particularly terrible distortion, as the priest stands in loco Christi.

I understand the abused parishioner was moved to tears by the care and love finally shown- after twenty years of silence- by the acknowledgement by the Rector- of this crime.

But the Bishop said: No. Back Off. Go back to silence. This man is a transient- a bum- looking for money.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but whom do we follow? Jesus Christ, or Gladstone B. Adams III.?

This is indeed not Liberal v. Conservative, as poster Matt Kennedy says. Father Bollinger has been Liberal, right down the line. But Father Bollinger now knows to his sorrow the truth of the old adage: liberals eat their own.

And none of you Rectors out there know when you too might be next on the menu.

Chris Peterson,
St. Paul’s Vestry
Owego, NY
# Chris Peterson Says:
September 17th, 2005 at 9:37 pm

My wife Susan (the antepenultimate poster) suggests that I clarify what I meant by “Liberal right down the line” with respect to Father Bollinger. I pretty much meant politically liberal; i.e., antiwar, and so on. He would not have suggested interdenominational services with Druids.

I had no idea that ‘liberal’ was a code word for heretic, but she says it is, so I offer this clarification.

-JCP