Posted on 07/12/2008 8:41:39 AM PDT by Gamecock
A TRAINEE priest due for an audience with the Pope this week has agreed to leave a seminary after church officials discovered he had an ex-wife 56 years his senior and that he claimed his late father may have been involved in murdering close family and friends.
But Salvatore Scevola, 36, still plans to get in to see the Pope through his media accreditation with Vatican television channel Telepace.
Catholic officials became concerned about Mr Scevola's suitability for the priesthood when they discovered that in his 20s he was married to a woman 56 years older than him, eventually divorcing after 5½ years. He went on to run the family car wash business at Five Dock, where he was fined $5000 for not paying workers' compensation premiums.
In an appeal against the fine to the NSW Industrial Relations Commission Mr Scevola told a psychologist whose report was heard as evidence that his "controlling" father had ordered him not to pay the premiums. He said his father was violent, slept with a loaded gun beside him and had unsavoury connections. The psychologist's report said Mr Scevola suspected his father may have shot dead "compari" - close friends and family. His appeal against the penalty was dismissed.
Mr Scevola also had a high public profile through his role as chief of the Australian Multicultural TV Network, as an ethnic lobbyist and stood as an independent candidate in the 2003 NSW election. He now lives with his mother in Liverpool.
Mr Scevola said: "I cared for a lovely old lady for some 5½ years. The woman was alone in her home and I stepped in and tried to help the situation. There is no scandal there, there is no suggestion I did anything improper. I have harmed no one, I have been charged with nothing and I have done nothing wrong to anyone."
The Rector of the Seminary of the Good Shepherd, Bishop Julian Porteous, said Mr Scevola was leaving the seminary by mutual agreement, having completed one semester.
"I explained to him that aspects of his life prior to entering the seminary may work against him and the Church, were he to proceed to be ordained as a priest in the Archdiocese of Sydney," Bishop Porteous said.
Who is this guy? A male Anna Nicole Smith?
What would be really embarassing is if SHE divorced HIM!
Indeed.
I think it is safe to say this guy is a mimbo.
I recently found out that the long-time dean of the Notre Dame law department, David Link, who had something like 6 kids, is a year away from becoming a Holy Cross priest.
Is he married? Divorced? Widowed?
Do you know who Martha Raye is? Have you ever heard of Mark Harris?
I'm confident the former ND law dean and father of 6 is widowed, but I don't know for a fact.
Yes. No. Now upon following the link I have learned something new today.
No, he was already ordained last month. His wife passed away in 2003.
Why doesn’t he just get the Catholic Church to declare that the marriage never happened? (annulment) It’s as easy as an application. It works for tens of thousands every year.
An annulment would be kinda dumb: a past marriage is not in itself an absolute impediment to ordination. The problem was found in the wider vistas of weirdness, don’cha think?
Why does this thread have the vibe of a scandal? The church certainly acted correctly according to it public positions, and the worst which can certainly be said for the man is that he was in a wierd relationship.
I don’t know. I posted it because of the weird nature of the relationship.
So you’re saying you didn’t intend the post to have “the vibe of a scandal” (to quote myself)? It’s just because it’s “News of the Wierd?”
It sounds to me like the guy has the potential for some emotional issues which may make the rigors of chastity very difficult. Because of such rigors, and the impact a priest has on his congregation, priests should be screened for emotional health.
As for the reason he married the reason the woman: Whatever Gamecock’s intentions are, the news media would never passes up an opportunity to create a sense of scandal, particularly if it fits an existing template. Therefore, the fact that the paper doesn’t mention any significant wealth of the woman is a dog that isn’t barking. It seems, therefore, crass and un-Christian to presume such a motive to the marriage.
There are many legal rights which afford a spouse a much greater ability than a friend to make sure that a sick or elderly person is well taken care of.
The story references either a severely violent family background, or mental defect Just to suggest that there are many explanations possible, and not to assert the veracity of his one (for it’s also somewhat scandalous): Maybe the man has been psychologically scarred badly enough he didn’t see himself capable of a healthy, productive sexual relationship... so chose a relationship in which he could be a do-gooder. When that didn’t work out, he sought out a way to use his inabilities for a more certain good.
(Yes, contrary to Luther’s and Calvin’s take on Catholicism, the Catholic church does seek to correct the natural impulse that one has to earn anything good, including God’s love. As such, anything that tips a vocation director that a man just can’t seem trying to earn his way into Heaven, in spite of correction, is gravely troublesome.)
Yup.
Notice how I didn’t say anything about the priesthood, but instead about the nature of the relationship.
Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal. Attempting to discern another poster's intentions or motivations - i.e. mind reading - is a form of making it personal.
Attempting to discern another poster's intentions or motivations - i.e. mind reading - is a form of making it personal.
*********************
Imho, this is not "attempting to discern intention", it is dismissing any intention as beside the point.
Please ping me when you toss my name around. Such is considered appropriate here on FR.
My apologies. I meant no disrespect.
Accepted. Have a blessed Lord’s Day.
And you as well.
hehehe Perhaps he neglected to log in as a Mod? < /conspiracy theory>
Since you are not the Religion Mod or a mod of any other kind, please search your keyboard for quotation marks.
Well, widowers are allowed to become priests.
You’re right.
No one has the right to demand ordination. The Church decided who will be ordained. There are seminarians with spotless records, who have nothing scandalous or questionable in their past, who eventually are dismissed from the seminary because the bishop decides they are not truly called to the priesthood. It looks like this particular diocese dodged a bullet here. This guy probably should not have even been admitted to the seminary in the first place, given his background.
>> This guy probably should not have even been admitted to the seminary in the first place, given his background. <<
No, he shouldn’t’ve, but it’s pretty clear that this background was more recently
discovered.
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