Robert Sullivan, 61, on ‘personal leave’ after Heather Jones, now 33, brought allegations, sexual in nature, to diocese
A Roman Catholic priest in Alabama is under investigation, church officials say – and he abruptly announced he is taking “personal leave” – after a woman alleged to his superiors that he traded financial support for “private companionship” including sex, beginning when she was 17.
The accuser, Heather Jones, has also alleged that the clergyman, Robert Sullivan, recently paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars to remain silent about it, a claim she supported with bank records, an email and a copy of a legal agreement.
You think they’re not gonna take advantage of women and children if they’re allowed to marry? I doubt it, because the big issue is the power dynamic, not his inability to get married. If he wanted to fuck he can go ahead and find an escort or leave the church and get married.
The church attracts abusers and creeps, and many people who want to be celibate because they know they’re pedos. Letting them marry isn’t going to stop the church attracting abusers
Of course abuse is still going to happen, it happens outside of the priesthood too. Putting words in my mouth is just dumb.
There are tons of pedos who are/were married, this argument is completely idiotic. Positions of authority will always attract abusers, that doesn’t mean that having to be celibate and unmarried isn’t a large part of why priests molest others and then try to cover it up.