Ontario bishop resigns suddenly

[grammafreddy]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/ ... alcomments

Ontario bishop resigns suddenly
Last Updated: Wednesday, April 7, 2010 | 9:02 PM ET CBC News

The bishop of a Roman Catholic diocese in southern Ontario has unexpectedly resigned from his post.

Bishop James Wingle, who led the Diocese of St. Catharines since 2002, submitted his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI. It was accepted Wednesday morning and was effective immediately. Wingle, 63, provided no specific reason for his resignation.

In a letter to parishioners, posted on the diocese website, Wingle wrote that he decided to resign after much prayer and reflection. He said it is not easy to leave the people he has come to "love and cherish."

"The duties of the office of a diocesan bishop call for vigorous stamina to meet the challenges of leadership," he wrote. "I am no longer able to maintain the necessary stamina to fulfill properly my duties.

"It has been a privilege and a blessing to have served with you," he added. "If my shortcomings and limitations have caused any disappointment, I ask for God's mercy and your understanding. I pray that the work we have accomplished in the service of the Lord and his church will bear much fruit, now and in the years to come. "

Wingle worked for the Ontario Attorney General's office for five years in the 1970s before becoming an ordained priest for the diocese of Pembroke in Eganville, Ont. in 1977.

In 1993, he was named bishop of Yarmouth, N.S., and he served in that province until he moved to St. Catharines on Jan. 24, 2002.

Those who knew Wingle said the resignation came as a shock.

"There was no mention … This came as a surprise to us all," said Msgr. Wayne Kirkpatrick of the St. Catharines diocese. "We're surmising from that that it is a matter of illness, but we don't know.

Kirkpatrick said the next step for the diocese is to elect an administrator until a new bishop is appointed, which could take months or longer.

Another one bites the dust. Wonder where they will hide him so he can't be questioned.

I see from the comments that some think it is because he is "no longer able to maintain the necessary stamina to fulfill properly my duties" and I call BS to that. If such was the case, he would have had a public "goodbye, god-bless-thanks-for-the-memories" with his parishioners and his other clergy - not a sudden "I'm outta here-bye" that left even his own staff questioning why. They might have even had a nice potluck supper for him to wish him godspeed and better health and stamina. I'll just bet the old pope-y hustled him outta there under the cloak of darkness before his transgressions got discovered - or .... maybe they did?????

[warden]

It's sort of unfortunate that you're automatically assuming this man is a child molester. Nothing in that article suggests anything untoward.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about punishing those responsible for the crimes committed and I'm not the least bit religious, but you're making an accusation with absolutely no evidence to support it.

You posted this question in the other thread about the Vatican:

Why do they condone [the Catholic church] by supporting it?

So, you don't want people to support the church by being a part of it. Great. I'm with you all the way here.

But then this man resigns - leaves the church - thereby not supporting it, and you insinuate that he's a child molester. I'm sorry, what?

I mean, he could be, just as much as anyone else could be. But to tar every priest/bishop/whathaveyou with the pedophile brush - evidence or no - is akin to saying "some teachers are pedophiles, therefore all teachers are pedophiles".

[NAB]

It's sort of unfortunate that you're automatically assuming this man is a child molester. Nothing in that article suggests anything untoward.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about punishing those responsible for the crimes committed and I'm not the least bit religious, but you're making an accusation with absolutely no evidence to support it.

You posted this question in the other thread about the Vatican:

Why do they condone [the Catholic church] by supporting it?

So, you don't want people to support the church by being a part of it. Great. I'm with you all the way here.

But then this man resigns - leaves the church - thereby not supporting it, and you insinuate that he's a child molester. I'm sorry, what?

I mean, he could be, just as much as anyone else could be. But to tar every priest/bishop/whathaveyou with the pedophile brush - evidence or no - is akin to saying "some teachers are pedophiles, therefore all teachers are pedophiles".

[grammafreddy]

Actually, I don't assume ALL priests are child abusers and sexual predators. But I do believe that when they get high up in the church - bishop, etc - they ALL are guilty of covering it up to protect the church. They ALL do nothing to stop the abuse.

And if the parishioners and their local clergy (who may or may not be child predators) don't step up to the plate and start demanding - loudly and publicly - they are just as guilty, too.

In a community, if a teacher (to use your example) is accused of being a child predator, the local people call for all kinds of legal action against him/her. Even the catholic parents. True or not, that person's reputation is destroyed forever. But when it happens inside their religious community, they clam up and do absolutely nothing. The person just goes into hiding and then surfaces in another community somewhere else to carry on doing the same thing - leaving a trail of destroyed and snuffed-out lives behind them.

[Born_again]

It's sort of unfortunate that you're automatically assuming this man is a child molester. Nothing in that article suggests anything untoward. ......


..... But then this man resigns - leaves the church - thereby not supporting it, and you insinuate that he's a child molester. I'm sorry, what? .....

..... I mean, he could be, just as much as anyone else could be. But to tar every priest/bishop/whathaveyou with the pedophile brush - evidence or no - is akin to saying "some teachers are pedophiles, therefore all teachers are pedophiles".

This is rather 'strange', Warden, and I say this as someone that has learned to respect you as a 'more-reasoned' poster(and certainly more-reasoned than I!).
You have just jumped all over the OP by insinuating that your insinuations were the OP's, whilst damning 'those' insinuations. Tell me it's not so? Please don't get me wrong, there is much that can be auto-inferred into the style, consistency, intentions or modus operandi of various 'personality posters' on Castanet, but surely that doesn't necessarily make it right to globally type-caste or pre-judge that personality across their range of posts or opinions on varying topics?

And NAB, your quick-fire 10/10 speaks volumes!

[warden]

I'm not sure that I 'jumped all over the OP', B_A. Perhaps I didn't articulate myself particularly well

Right off the bat - my apologies to grammafreddy. You're absolutely right. You didn't insinuate that the man was a child molester. I shouldn't have taken it to that degree, and I have slapped my hand on your behalf. (That's not me being flip. I mean it sincerely)

There are however, clear statements in the OP that the (now former) bishop is guilty of 'transgressions' and needs to be questioned. It's those statements primarily that I was responding to.

All we have to base our opinions on is a short article about the unexpected resignation of a bishop. Would this article have been written at all were there not already the media firestorm around the Catholic church? Probably not. But there's nothing in the article to suggest this man's resignation is anything more than what it was.

There's a part of me that wants to believe, as grammafreddy does, that his reason for leaving - the lack of stamina - is BS. But not because I want to believe he is some sort of criminal. I want to believe it's BS because I'd like to believe that this man had crisis of conscience and could no longer associate himself with the organization. There's a teeny tiny optimist in me that continually tries to hope for the best. I'm sure I'll beat her down eventually, but so far she's still there!

Until I hear differently, however, I can only believe that this man's statement is accurate and, at 63 years old, his stamina just ain't what it was. That's all I've got.

[Born_again]

When I first saw the article a part of my conscience 'hoped' that the Bishop was standing down more for his knowledge, as opposed to his deeds. I do not fully accept the given reasons for his abrupt resignation, but I certainly do not rule them out.
Also, weighty consideration may be given to the notion that this guy is completely and utterly removed (I can't use the word "innocent" in its literal sense, as I believe virtually no breathing adult can claim innocence with regards to child abuse and the Catholic Church) from direct wrongdoing, but has recently tuned in to his more naturalistic morals and seeks to distance himself from the source of contention.
When it all comes out in the wash, I hope that no-one was harmed in the making of this story.

[warden]

Also, weighty consideration may be given to the notion that this guy is completely and utterly removed (I can't use the word "innocent" in its literal sense, as I believe virtually no breathing adult can claim innocence with regards to child abuse and the Catholic Church) from direct wrongdoing, but has recently tuned in to his more naturalistic morals and seeks to distance himself from the source of contention.

You're always able to say the things I want to with far fewer words!

[Born_again]

You're always able to say the things I want to with far fewer words!

That's possibly only because I can't afford a dictionary as big as yours.

[NAB]

Well, hopefully it speaks volumes that I am against paedophilia and paedophiles no matter what their affiliation (if any), ...as well as being opposed to speculation about anyone's motives for leaving their job based on such a flimsy report. Anything else that "speaks volumes" related to my 10/10 would just be more "speculation", just as everything else here regarding the reason(s) for his leaving is.

In fact, I am hard pressed to understand why the Bishop resigning is even newsworthy at this point (Not to say it may not become so down the road, particularly if something other than a severe illness, perhaps terminal, led to it). Oh, I get it. It's just because he (apparently) is a Catholic and a Christian. ;-)

Nab