“Distractions” and Priestly Fidelity

One line in the USCCB statement on Msgr. Burril’s resignation made me wonder, so I wrote something.

A distracted woman (CC0 pexels)

One line from the USCCB’s statement on Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill’s resignation has bothered me: they state he is resigning “in order to avoid becoming a distraction.” Fidelity to your priestly vows seems much more than a “distraction”: it’s an important aspect of being a priest and leading as a priest in the Church. We should see celibacy as more than a “distraction.”

The statement stated above that line that the bishops “became aware of impending media reports alleging possible improper behavior by its general secretary, Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill.” There are only two possibilities for those reports. Either Burrill was serially involved in activities that a priest – let alone the general secretary of the bishop’s conference – should never do by regularly using Grindr (an app for gay hookups), or he wasn’t.

Read the rest on Patheos.

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