A priest alone with his coins

An elderly priest in the diocese of Würzburg has been charged with fraud after more than €1 million in church funds was found in his apartment and resting in his bank account.

Police searched his apartment and said they found €1.09 million, including an 'unusual amount of change'.

There is something profoundly sad about this story. Where were his fellow priests, where was and is the man's bishop?

These men talk and preach about supporting one another. Among all walks of life there is probably the least honest communication among priests. We hear the term 'brother priests' and 'brother bishops'. Powerful oxymorons.

Many years ago I experienced a man come to officiate at a funeral Mass in that German diocese. The man was clearly drunk and no-one had the love or courage to speak to him. The show went on.

So much of what goes on is a charade. Of course there are great priests and bishops but at present there is a new dispensation and style of secrecy developing which is going to have cataclysmic results.

The phenomenon of homosexuality within priesthood is not the problem. The problem is the secrecy and cover up and then all the lies that are told. And then the link between pseudo conservatism and closet homosexuality is becoming more scary every day. The stories, the anecdotes, the pain, the tricks - of course the issue has to be dealt with in a loving and Christian manner. That's not happening.

And it appears few if any bishops or religious 'superiors' are engaging in any real way with the issue.