Re: Priest sues diocesan, college officials for libel
Father Gruber is doing the right thing. I have met him and know someone who is close to him personally. He is a fine priest without a doubt. There is nothing wrong with him suing to get back his good name. Besides being a monk and professor, Father Gruber is a citizen of the USA with all the rights and privileges that go with that. One of those rights is to use the court system to seek justice when one is wronged. Unless the abbot's lawyers are brain dead, they will soon be advising him to settle this case. Father Gruber was cleared of all criminal charges and to persist in calling him a pedophile is LIBEL.
The Church no longer says we must avoid the courts of the unbeliever or whatever you want to call them. It is current Vatican policy that bishops must report sex abuse cases to civil authorities. That means the Church has confidence in the civil courts and does not seek to avoid them. It also implies the Church does not have confidence that its own structures are adequate in dealing with the problem. There is nothing in canon law which forbids a priest from suing anyone. Right now there are and have been several similar cases of priests suing their bishop for one reason or another. If you google priest sues or suing bishop, you will see a number of recent and past cases.
Too bad it has come to this, but it's nothing new.
C.
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