Letter to faithful from excommunicated priest in Diocese of Sacramento

[Gnarwhal]

**Be advised: you are in the Catholic forum. Please be mindful of the Congregational Forum rules and post accordingly.**

I hadn't heard anything about this but this is going on in my diocese. A priest I follow on Twitter (Father V) shared this document, a letter from a priest who has been suspended since 2016 and apparently this weekend has or will be officially excommunicated by my Bishop.

The circumstances all seem really peculiar, on the one hand he admits and apologizes for doing some sinful things, but he also claims that many of the accusations against him are false and to have been treated unjustly. He then goes on to criticize the withdrawing of the sacraments during the pandemic, discusses apparently defying orders and continuing to deliver Holy Communion to the faithful, and then finishes by professing that he thinks Benedict XVI is still Pope. It's all over the place, but nevertheless an interesting read.

I also found an article from Church Militant about this that I'll link to below as well. According to that article, over 700 Catholics signed a petition asking Bishop Soto to restore Fr. Leatherby to active ministry. It further mentions that Fr. Leatherby's removal from his parish came after his father, a deacon, reported to gay priests to the diocese.

So I find myself asking, what's really going on here?

Fr. Jeremy Leatherby's letter:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bGHyF3HFTNi4a-C3RwROcbizVF-3nBnw/view

Church Militant article (2016):
Hundreds Support Whistleblower Priest Punished by Sacramento Bishop

 

[anna ~ grace]

Wow... there’s a lot there. Christ, have mercy.

This man admits to doing wrong, but I wonder if he isn’t being battered and mistreated more for theological reasons. Or spiritual.

 

[Gnarwhal]

This man admits to doing wrong, but I wonder if he isn’t being battered and mistreated more for theological reasons. Or spiritual.

That's the impression I got. Obviously what's wrong is wrong and that should be dealt with, but I also think there's a distinction between sinful and criminal. His actions seem to be regarded by his detractors as criminal when it sounds like it was a consensual thing—whatever it was—between two adults. Like I said, wrong is wrong and no priest should do something like that, but it's also not in the same category as the homopredator priests that have infiltrated the Church over recent decades.

I also don't know if Fr. Leatherby had expressed dissent towards Pope Francis before that letter, but there might've at least been some suspicion which may account for part of the move against him. But it also sounds like he's truly an orthodox priest with a genuine supernatural faith, and he unfortunately made a couple of really grave (and ultimately public) mistakes that have been used to disgrace him.

Honestly based on what I've read, I wish and hope he could bounce back somehow, somewhere because if his misdeeds really are what he's said, then laicization/excommunication seems heavy handed and inappropriate. But, I'm also not omnipotent and lack all of the facts.

I will also say this about Bishop Soto: in my three short years as a Catholic I've gotten the impression that he likes to "play it safe", and his handling of this seems to reflect that characterization.

Granted, this is California and generally anybody to the right of Jimmy Carter has to be shrewd with what they express. Especially today when it's demonstrably unsafe to support anything good, moral, and righteous.

 

[Michie]

Father Jeremy Leatherby of Sacramento says he stands by his claim that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is the true pope.

Bishop Soto Excommunicates Priest Who Rejects Pope Francis

 

[pdudgeon]

That's the impression I got. Obviously what's wrong is wrong and that should be dealt with, but I also think there's a distinction between sinful and criminal. His actions seem to be regarded by his detractors as criminal when it sounds like it was a consensual thing—whatever it was—between two adults. Like I said, wrong is wrong and no priest should do something like that, but it's also not in the same category as the homopredator priests that have infiltrated the Church over recent decades.

I also don't know if Fr. Leatherby had expressed dissent towards Pope Francis before that letter, but there might've at least been some suspicion which may account for part of the move against him. But it also sounds like he's truly an orthodox priest with a genuine supernatural faith, and he unfortunately made a couple of really grave (and ultimately public) mistakes that have been used to disgrace him.

Honestly based on what I've read, I wish and hope he could bounce back somehow, somewhere because if his misdeeds really are what he's said, then laicization/excommunication seems heavy handed and inappropriate. But, I'm also not omnipotent and lack all of the facts.

I will also say this about Bishop Soto: in my three short years as a Catholic I've gotten the impression that he likes to "play it safe", and his handling of this seems to reflect that characterization.

Granted, this is California and generally anybody to the right of Jimmy Carter has to be shrewd with what they express. Especially today when it's demonstrably unsafe to support anything good, moral, and righteous.

Agreed. Sending him to an enclosed Priory would have been a better choice, IMHO. Less chance for temptation, better opportunity for prayer and service.

 

[Bob Crowley]

To me he sounds somewhat mixed up, and probably not the best person to be a parish priest, if that is what he was.

I don't know what other options are available, having only heard his side of the story.

Circulating some sort of video sounds manipulative to me, but then as I say I don't know the full story.

 

[Gnarwhal]

Agreed. Sending him to an enclosed Priory would have been a better choice, IMHO. Less chance for temptation, better opportunity for prayer and service.

Right if punishment was necessitated at all, that would've been the better option. Really it sounds like this is something that should've been resolved between him and Bishop Soto and perhaps the other party involved. I don't know how I feel about his position on Pope Francis, but he nevertheless sounds like a good priest, a true believer in his station and the sacraments—which seems to be an increasing rarity these days.