Moved, left no forwarding address

[jhetley]

I'm puzzling around in my head over a current move to un-name a bridge in our state capitol.  The bridge is/was named after a Catholic priest, now dead, who apparently had a fair amount of positive impact in the state.  Enough to get a bridge named for him, anyway.  Myself, I'd never heard of him.

Now someone has come forward, claiming he was abused by said priest many years ago.  Person claims to have been an altar boy at the time.  I presume that can be verified.

Thing is, twenty or thirty years after the fact, how can you prove guilt or innocence of even a living man, much less a corpse unable to defend himself?  Damn sure I'd have a hard time proving where I was and what I was doing, on any given day in 1988 . . .

Rather than "he said/she said", this is "he said/he said", with one of the voices only available by seance.

EDIT:  According to one news article, the priest died 32 years ago:

http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/5245110.html

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

The whole idea of waiting until someone has died before naming public facilities after them is to make sure no scandals attach to the name. Maybe the bridge was given this priest's name too soon?

In any case, since the bishop of the diocese favors removing the name, I'd say they should weigh the bishop's recommendation seriously.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Dunno about the bishop -- I'm just cynical enough about the authoritarian wing of the Body of Christ to think he may just see a cheap way out...

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I share your cynicism, but in this case I think the bishop is probably the best source of info that exists.

I know a bit about a similar case. A guy who was a mining partner of my great-grandfather went on to become a priest and founded a home for orphaned boys with the money he'd made in the mine. His disciplinary methods were pretty typical by the standards of 1900, but have since been called into question. One of those "no good deed goes unpunished" stories.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Bishop now wasn't bishop then. Looks too much like the quietest way out for Mother Church...