Bishop Rogelio Livieres of the Diocese of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay has seen his priestly ordinations suspended pending the pope's decision about an alleged situation in that diocese. It seems that a priest who had been serving in the diocese of Scranton PA and allegations arose of sexual misconduct. It is alleged that then-Bishop Joseph Martino had the priest (Carlos Urrutigoity) transferred to Paraguay. Bishop Livieres has defended Father Urrutigoity, stating that the allegations are unproven.
It should be pointed out that Bishop Livieres is a strong opponent of liberation theology and a strong proponent of the Latin Mass. The number of vocations from his diocese exceeds those of the neighboring diocese. It has also been said that Bishop Livieres took one of his fellow bishops to task owing to the latter's sexual misbehaviors.
So we have a bishop who has instilled real Catholic life into his diocese and who has not thrown a priest under the bus without due process. For that, the long knives are pointed at him. By the way - several years ago we had a similar situation in the United States - Scranton PA, to be precise. The target of USCCB venom was Bishop Joseph Martino, mentioned earlier in this post. To get some background, I'll link to my older website. Scroll down till you see "A Real Bishop in Scranton PA". This is no coincidence, in my opinion. If Father Urrutigoity was involved in scandalous behavior, he's still entitled to due process and not just condemnation by innuendo. Is the antipathy towards Father Urrutigoity, who was assisted by both Bishops Martino and Liveres, supposed to be a warning to any other bishop who may decided to remember he's Catholic and not a progressive "liberation theology" hack?
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The guilty until proven innocent attitude needs to stop in the Church for behaviours. Thank God for Bishops acting like true Fathers and not abandoning their own...God bless both Bishop Martino (who got ran out of Scranton) and Bishop Livieres
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