In a piece of eye-watering argumentation, a lawyer for the Roman Catholic Church has implied that priests are not priests -- and hence the Vatican is not responsible for their activities -- when they are not on duty.
“How do we determine when a priest is and is not on duty,” one justice asked.The case in question centers on molestation said to have occurred when a priest was on outings in Delaware. The possible implications for the wider Vatican priest-abuse scandal are clear.
“Well,” the diocese’s lawyer explained, “you can determine a priest is not on duty when he is molesting a child, for example.”
PS. I have no way to corroborate the quote cited in the link, which was authored by "The Star-Ledger Editorial Board."
PPS. And here is a background story on the man whose case inspired the legal remarks.
Do they use time clocks? Or is it assumed that anything a priest does that a priest shouldn't do is clocking out for a bit? lol
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