Catholic bishop of Phoenix arrested

FOXNEWS | 6/16/2003 | John Gibson

[sinkspur]

Roman Catholic bishop John O'Brien was arrested for leaving the scene of a fatal hit-and-run accident, and his car impounded.

[Cap'n Crunch]

Your right, if he had pulled over he wouldn't be in trouble.

[B Knotts]

Calm down, my friend. You appear very"uptight" and unable sense irony or sarcasm.

Well, I did say "if you are not being sarcastic."

Hey, it's hard to tell here sometimes, what with all the Jack Chick types...

[IrishRainy]

Wow, what? Your point being?

[far sider]

And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. (Luke 10:31,32)

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. (Rev. 18:4)

[Ebenezer]

Hit-and-run. That sounds like the way some bishops dealt with the sex-abuse scandals in their respective dioceses.

[Domestic Church]

" like al capone getting it for..."

And Keating just resigned the panel because he said it was a mafia,(and he refused to apologize and reiterated and adding it was a deadly serious mafia...so maybe he was told to quit or he would be taken out?)

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Thread kind of, like, died after you posted that picture in post #300. Man, does that say it all or what? How in the world could you sustain that kind of damage to your windshield and NOT know what you hit. The Bishop is lying and everyone knows it. What a shame.

Here's the picture for those who missed it.:

[Drango]

The photo was first posted in #103...I was just reposting it.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

My bad. Didn't see it up there...rushed through the thread. Thanks...it needs to be posted very 100 so people can see the extent of the damage. Basically tells it all.

[sinkspur]

The accident occurred at 8:36 and, based on the distance, he had NO TIME to get "plastered to the gills" as you so eloquently put it.

Drunks don't drink in public. It might be a good idea for him to use alcohol as an excuse; otherwise, the 36-hour wait will REALLY make him look like a criminal.

[sinkspur]

We are all sinners, and even a man of the cloth can succumb.

Sins of weakness are one thing, but there is no excuse for criminal behavior, which is what O'Brien has engaged in.

[Lael]

And, until you have lived here, you DON'T even begin to comprehend the Wildlife situation. Don't let the harsh Sonoran Desert fool you...Mountain Lions regularly wander into Phoenix and other Valley cities from the Desert, not to mention the Bobcats, Coyotes, foxes, and yes, Deer (Mule Deer).

BTW, not to excuse O'Brien, but merely to point out that The Valley of the Sun literally crawls with Wildlife, and I am NOT refering to Scorpions, Gila Monsters, and Snakes, of which we also have an abundance.

I apologize to all for my poor Phraseology.

I am NOT putting Bishop O'Brien among "wildlife".

I am merely saying that in view of the actual wildlife present here, his claim that he might have struck a deer is not far fetched. In fact, that car looks like a Deer Strike, where the deer flips axially and the hoofs penetrate the Windshield.

Since most cities have 'strip annexed' way beyond the built up areas, The Department of Game and Fish no longer surveys there. Truth be known, there are Deer and Mountain Lions in most Valley Cities, with the exception of Tempe.

The area involved, 19th Avenue and Glendale, is a stone's throw from Moon Valley, which loosely connects Camelback Mountain, Lookout Mountain, Squaw Peak, Tapitio Cliffs, North Mountain, Union Hills, etc. It looks built up, but headquarters of Arizona Game and Fish is located on Greenway Road near 19th, a stone's throw from where the accident took place.

Look, most people who have lived here a while have seen more wildlife in a few years than most Americans will see in their lifetimes. That is the Paradox...a Desert with more animals that a Jungle!!!

[tracer]

"Pope St. Damasus put it together in the 300s. Without his work in that regard, there would be no NT of the bible. The holy gospels and letters of the NT --Brought to you courtesy of the authority of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, founded by Jesus, Christ. That's a fact." No, those are beliefs........

[tracer]

And who died and made you Quizmaster, or whatever it is that you fancy yourself to be??

[Servant of the Nine]

Okay, there is absolutely no blood on the roof.

I stand corrected.

Doncha think there would be much more damage to the car if he hit someone full on? You know, stuff like blood and tissue on the car, massive front-end damage, etc.

Not necessarily. I have seen other cars with low front ends with very similar damage. They hit a pedestrian from the rear, essentially in the knees, sending their head into the windshield.

I wonder if they've located the other driver yet -- you know, of the car that actually drove over the pedestrian and also didn't stop.

I don't think so, but I will quibble that he probably ran over the corpse of the victim.

Hopefully, you guys will have some choice words for that guy too. But somehow I doubt it.

Anyone who flees the scene of an accident deserves serious jail time.
However, I believe in holding Lawyers, Doctors, off duty cops and religious professionals to a higher standard than ordinary citizens in these matters.

So9

[RobRoy]

>>I doubt there is... if he had just pulled over and called the police... <<

Exactly! From which I infer there is more to it - especially after 36 hours. Even Panic would have been explained by turning himself in an hour later. That happens a lot.

The 36 hours and still no admission of the event! That tells a story.

[CdMGuy]

You seem to have some sort of bug up your butt over Mahony. You live in TX, not CA. It seems you are not aware of the obnoxious law that the left wing CA legislature and our beloved Governor, who is a CINO, signed.
That law removed the statute of limitations on all sexual abuse cases no matter how long ago they allegedly happened. For a one year period, the year 2003, anyone can file any case against any religious no matter when the alleged incident(s) happened. The plaintiffs attorneys love it, and cases are coming out of the woodwork with little or nothing to back them up. How many are real and how many are phony, no one knows. What is apparent, however, is that the church and the priests will have a tough time refuting any claims, which likely will result in claimants getting at least some monetary settlement.

I wonder how you would feel if someone filed a case against you today for an incident that allegedly happened 30 years ago. How would you defend against it? In my opinion, if a person believes that he/she has been abused, then that person should have a reasonable finite period in which to take any legal action. Such used to be the case in CA. It no longer is in this case.

This is not a matter of protecting sexual molesters. It is a matter of ensuring and protecting the legal rights of all of us. That same legislature and governor can just as easily decide next year that due to our budget shortfall, the statute of limitations on tax cheating will be removed and the state will start making claims on 30 year old tax returns. Would you be able to produce your tax return records and receipts from 30 years ago?

Mahony is bad news. We here in CA have to live with him. You don't. I live in the next diocese to the south and am sure glad I do. However, an archdiocese casts a big shadow, so we get to see and hear his nonsense all too often. Plus, when we drive into downtown LA, we get to look at the monstrosity of a cathedral that he built as a monument to himself. It is so close to Interstate 5 that some call it Our Lady of the Freeway.

[Havisham]

Look, does anyone here honestly think O'Brien would have left another human being to suffer or die if he had understood what had happened? His response has been reported that he thought maybe someone had thrown a rock at his car. An understandable conclusion, it seems to me, if you've been the object of a lot of public criticism, anger and threats lately. I'm not making excuses for O'Brien or any of the other church leaders but I think even our forum has become part of this national mood to lynch accused priests, who, by the way, are still half as likely to commit criminal offenses than any of the other professions. A little looking within wouldn't hurt even for the righteous.

[Havisham]

I'm posting this for those who weren't part of this exchange.

Look, does anyone here honestly think O'Brien would have left another human being to suffer or die if he had understood what had happened? His response has been reported that he thought maybe someone had thrown a rock at his car. An understandable conclusion, it seems to me, if you've been the object of a lot of public criticism, anger and threats lately. I'm not making excuses for O'Brien or any of the other church leaders but I think even our forum has become part of this national mood to lynch accused priests, who, by the way, are still half as likely to commit criminal offenses than any of the other professions. A little looking within wouldn't hurt even for the righteous.

[sinkspur]

What is apparent, however, is that the church and the priests will have a tough time refuting any claims, which likely will result in claimants getting at least some monetary settlement.

Why will refuting claims be hard? There's either evidence or not; the priest is either believeable, or he's not believeable. If the diocese settles with someone who has no case, then the people running it are even bigger fools than they now appear to be.

What is irrefutable, however, is that some bishops, Mahoney among them, are not cooperating with prosecutors or the lay review board. There's no excuse for this.

Do you feel sorry for these people because they've got to deal with these claims? They brought this on themselves, with the decades of cover-up.

I'm Catholic, like you, and if my Texas bishop were embarrassing the entire US Church, I would expect you would ride herd on him, just as I'm doing on Mahoney.