This is particularly damning:
This is all I can find from the Diocese of Phoenix:
NOT. GOOD. ENOUGH.
He should have been removed yesterday. Every hour that passes while this man is still nominally leading the Catholic Christians of the Phoenix diocese is greater shame to the diocese and the whole church.
:mad: :mad: :mad:
Is there any church power lower/other than the pope who can fire, or demand the resignation of, the bishop? The old guy is only firing on about half a cylinder these days! Who knows how long a decision from Rome might take?
Don’t forget masonite that the man is still innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. So should they fire him? No not yet, but if he had any balls, he would resign as he really isn’t doing the church much good right now.
Oh and Haj I can’t speak for Polycarp but I find a world of difference between relieved of duites and relinquished some of his authority.
Now with those nits picked who would have thought that this is what an asshat actually looks like.
OK. I was a little sloppy there. I am sorry about that. He still did admit to protecting child molesters and that was my main point.
Haj
Mmmm…they don’t do crucifixions anymore, eh?
masonite: And yet, no doubt, you’d be livid if your employer excoriated you in the press while you were being investigated for something. The monsignor issued a statement saying that the church would cooperate with the investigation. What part of that did you not understand?
Latest news: the Bishop resigned this morning. It’s too new for most websites but there’s a banner on CNN.
What a shame for everyone involved. The police already determined that the victim was jaywalking in a part of town where that’s particularly dangerous and was largely responsible for his own death, and the bishop was charged only with leaving the scene. He’s just been freed on bond. His story, that he thought he’d hit an animal, would be more acceptable if it hadn’t turned out that one of his priests had urged him to contact police because he might be involved in the death.
The poor schmuck was hit by a second car too, which also left the scene. I do hope they’re looking as hard for this jerk too.
As for “firing” the bishop, it’s not like he’s a regional CEO of an ordinary corporation. And I really don’t see what it has to do with the sex scandals, aside from a general sleaziness.
Just curious–if his windshield was broken, doesn’t that mean that the man he hit flew into the air and broke the windshield? Wouldn’t the bishop have seen that? How could he say it was a cat or a dog or a rock? A man’s body broke his windshield. Am I reading this wrong?
He might have missed it while he was sipping a vodka tonic. This reeks of a standard drunk hit and run to me. Wait until you sober up, then come forward when it’s too late for the breathalizer.
On the radio this morning, they were saying that if he was drinking, and they could prove it, he would be charged with manslaughter.
Rick: Yes, I’m not forgetting that. Now that he’s resigned, I pity the man; I hope he has the best lawyers, a fair trial, etc. I’m not even interested in the crime as a civil/legal matter; I’m interested in bishops being the sort of people who are beyond suspicion of grave sin such as not providing aid where needed. This story recalled instantly to me the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke Ch. 10. We want our bishops (speaking generally; I’m not even Catholic) to be more like the Samaritan and less like the Levite, I think. Whatever the full set of facts in this case, this bishop appeared to be running away to save his own hide. The Church can’t afford even the appearance of this kind of misconduct, at this point.
Ceejaytee, having seen the pics of the windshield, I’m not able to buy the story that he thought it was a dog, cat or rock. I wish I could; if he really thought that, he’d be almost blameless. He might have stopped to check on the dog/cat, though!
I saw the vehicle this morning on the news, being removed by a trailer-type wrecker.
The whole passenger side of the windshield was a ruin.
The prosecutor was on the Today show and mentioned that the victim weighed 250 pounds. LOts of dogs and cats that big, yeppers.
also re: the second car - the man was lying in the street at the time (vs. standing up), it’d be more difficult to make a case against the second driver ‘having to know’ they hit a person (depending on where they hit 'em - you know running over a leg or something you wouldn’t necessarily know anything major, and if the street itself was dark at that point, how would you see that it was a person, vs. a large obstruction in the street you’re trying to avoid?)
Prosecutors also mentioned law in that state requries pedestrians to yeild to traffic, which would generally mean that the driver wouldn’t be at fault.
but leaving the scene big no no.
not contacting the cops after being told you were being asked about - bigger no no.
instructing your staff to get your windshield fixed after being told that you were being sought for questioning after fatal hit and run - very very big no - no (verbally heard on Today show, so if it’s wrong, don’t cite me 
)
Talk about bluntly speaking
Very well put
Ah, I had wondered whether the Bishop was the first or second car to hit the victim, thanks for clarifying. Man, if you can’t see well enough to know that the 250 lb object that just destroyed your windshield was a human, you shouldn’t be driving.
Is it just me, or have there been a lot of hit-and-run tragedies lately? In Dallas, the trial has started against a woman who hit a pedestrian – and then kept going, parked her car in her garage - WITH THE VICTIM STILL EMBEDDED IN THE DASHBOARD. He died there (hopefully sooner rather than later) and she allegedly then dumped the body somewhere. :eek: (Sorry for the hijack)
Ah, that would be Chante Mallard, no? A charmer, that woman.
And unfortunately the guy lived in the windshield for at least a day or two, I recall.
I don’t think we know conclusively how long he lived, but as I recall (sorry, no cite) when the story first broke, it was reported that she went into the house, had sex with her boyfriend (??) - and that the man was crying for help from her garage at some point.
Also in my neck of the woods: woman who drove over her cheating husband (with daughter in the car) – and the Cowboys player who mowed down a Good Samaritan and didn’t stop.
Vehicles are deadly weapons around these parts.
