Sunday, January 18, 2009

Midnight Express and a bottle of wine

It sounds like date night to me.

Bishop Robert Hermann, the interim leader of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, has removed one of its priests from active ministry because of a complaint filed against him alleging sexual abuse in the 1980s.

In 2005, a man filed a complaint of sexual abuse against the priest, the Rev. Michael Freymuth. It is unclear if the archdiocese acted on that allegation, but the same man is now threatening to file a lawsuit.

Previously in 2005, Timothy Bartin had accused Freymuth of giving him wine and caressing him while watching "Midnight Express" in the priest's bedroom at St. Joan of Arc's rectory when he was a teenager in the 1980s.

So giving a priest giving a boy a backrub in his private quarters, with wine a a graphic movie is considered proper behavior by the Catholic Church? Geez…