Meanwhile, in a surprise move, B16 has accepted the early resignation of LA Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, who turned 60 last September.
While rumors of unspecified Roman concerns over Zavala have circulated for some time, and have intensified over recent months, Catholic News Service reported this morning via Twitter that the bishop submitted his resignation after he confessed to having fathered two children.
In a letter to the Los Angeles church released early this morning, Archbishop José Gomez wrote that the auxiliary "informed [him] in early December that he is the father of two minor teenage children, who live with their mother in another state."
Come on.
Now I must be careful because this is the same bishop who asked bloggers to be a little more kinder and refrain from hateful demeaning speech. Okay, then....come on...please.
He shared this request while from his position as the Chair of Communications for the US Bishops.
I think he forgot to communicate a few things---like maybe "Oh, by the way Holy Father, I am a Dad--uh, twice!"
Okay, so hopefully there was love and some kind of relationship with the mother. As two adults they will need to deal with that.
But my first thoughts were for the children.
What about commitment and responsibility and manning up to being a dad?
I wonder if, in all his social issue preaching, he ever had to address single mothers, or children who had no fathers present in their lives?
We hear that they are minor teenagers--so this means that at the very least for the past thirteen or fourteen years two children grew up with their dad in another state--pretending to not be their dad.
When I was a court appointed therapist the majority of my clients didn't know who their father was or their father simply didn't care. You do the psychological and sociological math and extrapolate the results. This time instead of the government or some social service agency stepping in to deal with it--the church will. Perhaps the bishop ought to attend mandated parenting classes.
Now, before some wacko gets this blog and says--'see that's why priests should marry' I want them to think about this:
The fact that these kids had an absent father wasn't because he was a bishop but because he didn't have the guts to make a commitment to being a dad. The fact that he was a bishop simply gave him another life in which to hide--and that is what is pathetic.
