It was with sadness and disappointment that I read the articles about the situation at Our Lady of the Fields Parish (CR, Nov. 3); sadness over the realities and the pain of the parties involved, disappointment over the publication of the articles. I wonder about their purpose and the expected outcome within the larger faith community. All priests and deacons had already received a communique from the archbishop advising them of the situation and ensuing actions. The communique also included Father Nichols’ letter of resignation in which he wrote, “I am grateful to Bishop Mitch and to [Monsignor] Jay O’Connor and to [Monsignor] Jim Hannon for their care and concern for me. …”
I personally would have appreciated that “care” reflected in the article itself. Additionally, the article gave no information as to how long this had been going on. Assuming it had some life to it, how about the responsibility of others and the inability of processes to uncover the situation long before it became a much more serious one? None of this was reported. I only hope that in future reporting in The Catholic Review the dignity of the individual receives greater consideration and that more be said about the systems and processes that allow such a situation to run under the radar to point where corrective actions need to be so drastic.