I attended John F Kennedy Catholic High School in Somers, NY. I am a 1985 graduate. While there, I was, like many of my classmates, encouraged to receive the Sacraments. Mass was held daily; attendance was optional due to the long commute for most of the students in the 20-odd school districts the school served. Confession was available, and I went occasionally. I still do. One of the priests, Rev Francis Stinner, was a peculiar man. I went to confession once with him, and afterward he told me that he admired my scrappiness for the wrestling team and he encouraged me to try out for JV soccer, which he coached. So, sophomore year, I attended the first JV soccer practice. Father Stinner WATCHED us shower afterward, talking us through the damn thing in a Vince Lombardi tone.
Thus endeth my soccer career for the JFK Gaels. I stuck with wrestling and remained on the varsity for all 4 years. The coach my last three years was a guy named Bill Carney, one of the janitors working his way through college, and I and my teammates respect Bill to this day. He was a tremendous guy, and he wrote a letter of recommendation for me to Villanova that went above and beyond. He did nothing halfway.
Back to Stinner: He was defrocked for abuse recently. As this post in the local paper's discussion forum indicates, he has never served a day in jail. Nothing in the post, a blistering condemnation, surprises me. The man made me uncomfortable but it would have been too easy to label him as an abuser-I just thought he was weird. If you asked my classmates who would be voted "Most Likely to be a Pederast," it would be Father Stinner. They would have been right all along. I wonder, of all the guys who were MIA from the last reunion (and of those who attended), who was a victim of monsters like Stinner. He remains in Westchester County, living with his mother.
It is more than a little disconcerting, especially knowing how vulnerable I and the other guys were at ages 14-17, to know that leaders of the Church shielded this man from the law and put kids in harm's way. We were in the presence & care of a spiritual Jack the Ripper, and he was running the religion department.
How does the saying go? "Love the sinner, hate the bureaucracy..."?
Posted by: KipEsquire | May 02, 2006 at 10:48 AM
The instinctual reaction of the Catholic Church to "circle the wagons" rather than clean house is not a sign of a healthy, growing organization. The same goes for the Republican Party lately, the U.N., and just about any government bureaucracy.
Posted by: Andrew | May 03, 2006 at 12:18 AM
A Pastor I knew, even to Confirmation, was defrocked recently as well, for a solitary abuse complaint from 17 years ago (about when I was confirmed). He was over the hill already, then, and it was before I even could conceive of a priest doing stuff like that. I'm still a bit befuddled by it all. I had an encounter with a paedophile when I was 8, and I never wondered if he was a priest until 2003.
We still need to leave room for the possibility of repentance and absolution for people, regardless of their sins. That said, I think we should be building some medium-security monasteries...
Posted by: St. Jimbob of the Apokalypse | May 04, 2006 at 03:16 PM
"Back to Stinner: He was defrocked for abuse recently. As this post in the local paper's discussion forum indicates, he has never served a day in jail. Nothing in the post, a blistering condemnation, surprises me. The man made me uncomfortable but it would have been too easy to label him as an abuser-I just thought he was weird. If you asked my classmates who would be voted "Most Likely to be a Pederast," it would be Father Stinner. They would have been right all along. I wonder, of all the guys who were MIA from the last reunion (and of those who attended), who was a victim of monsters like Stinner. He remains in Westchester County, living with his mother.
It is more than a little disconcerting, especially knowing how vulnerable I and the other guys were at ages 14-17, to know that leaders of the Church shielded this man from the law and put kids in harm's way. We were in the presence & care of a spiritual Jack the Ripper, and he was running the religion department. "
A paederast is one who has sex with pre-pubecent boys. An adult male who has sexual desire for adolecent boys or who has sex with them is an ephoebophile.
Posted by: Ron | August 22, 2006 at 06:31 PM
Last year, I sent a scathing letter to Sr. Christopher after this story broke. CC'd it to most of the old administration from the 86-90 staff that is still there and that knew me, including coach Buckley. I told Christopher that I doubt that none of the administration had any suspicions about Stinner and that I'm sure she and the rest of JFK was involved in a deliberate coverup. I told her that as my former principal, I held her personally responsible for Stinner's behavior. I demanded a formal and public apology from her and the rest of the JFK admistration to all the boys who, like me, played on the soccer team. This letter was also sent to the newspaper that broke the Stinner story and also to the Arch Diocese on NYS. To date, I have received no response from her or anyone at JFK.
You think I wouldn't be shocked.
Posted by: Growlyman | September 07, 2006 at 01:20 AM