Friday, October 16, 2009

Booty And The Priest (A Tragedy)

Tale as old as time
Crude as it may be
Nothing was amiss
Then he gave a kiss
Unexpectedly
Did not keep his vows
Sad, to say the least
Father was a cad
Now Father is a dad—
Booty and the Priest

Happens all the time
Rarely a surprise
Cover what he did
Too bad about the kid
It’s time to tell some lies

Tale as old as time
Act as old as sin
Tell her to abort
As a last resort
Call the lawyers in
Certain as The Church
Wants the claim released
Tale as old as time
Act as old as slime
Booty and the Priest

Tale as old as time
Act as old as slime
Booty and the Priest


The New York Times reports the story of "A Mother, A Sick Son, and His Father, the Priest"; the Rev. Henry Willenborg (seriously, is he still "Reverend"? Lemme check the dictionary. ok, yeah, the prefix to the name of a member of the clergy, check... worthy to be revered; entitled to reverence, uncheck... pertaining to or characteristic of the clergy... I get it--it's an oxymoron!) abused his position of authority (with more than one woman, according to the story), Fathered (pun intended) a child (after asking the mother to abort), and did pretty much everything in his power, with the aid of The Church, to avoid taking responsibility in any meaningful way. An absentee Father.

Oh, yeah, the kid, now 22, is dying of cancer. The sort of thing that would make a normal parent move heaven and earth to help their child. Hell, I'm ready to donate bone marrow if the Cuttledaughter gets a cold... and don't get me started on the Cuttleson's diabetes! Surely cancer would...
“We’ve been very caring, very supportive, very generous over these 20-something years. It’s very tragic what’s going on with Nathan, but, you know?” said Father Willenborg, before trailing off and ending the interview.
Bastard. The Father, not the son. Oh, yeah, and the Church are also bastards:
Father Willenborg’s Franciscan superiors were aware of his relationship with Ms. Bond well before Nathan was born. A year earlier, Father Willenborg and Ms. Bond had conceived another child. Ms. Bond said that Father Willenborg suggested she have an abortion, which she found unthinkable. He finally informed his Franciscan superiors of their liaison.
Anyway, the whole article (first link above) is worth reading, if you are in the mood to really get mad at somebody. Oh, and here is an audio slideshow. I am very impressed that they managed to mention the fact that the Father has sent his son a get-well card, without making a snarky comment. I don't know that I could have managed that.

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7 comments:

Olaf Davis said...

I think you missed out the link.

Cuttlefish said...

Thanks--fixed!

Unknown said...

I'd be interested in seeing how often this happens to Anglican and Orthodox priests (who are allowed to marry and have kids) compared to Catholic ones. Methinks it would be a lot less likely.

yoyo said...

wow the combination of christian hypocrcy with appaling healthcare policy! somehow I dont think the wingnuts will be putting this one on their teabagging banners.

Cycle Ninja said...

Like I said over at Pharyngula, I await Bill Donohue's response with baited breath. Maybe he and his 300,000-plus members of the League of Extraordinary Catholics can put together a donation fund.

Bastards is too mild, and fuckers is too ironic.

gustavolk-swagen said...

It is sad that people in authority are so often found to be lacking in moral integrity. Willenborg reminds me of 1984's O'Brien with his doublethink.

Cuttlefish said...

It seems I cannot sign in over at Pharyngula, so if someone would be so kind as to post a message for me--I think it is very instructive to read the comments at the NYTimes to get the real story: the real bad guy in this is the Times, for reporting such a thing. It is part of their consistent anti-Catholic bias, and why can't they say the same things about Jews, and that mom is clearly a slut, and why is she going after the father's (excuse me, the Father's) employers in the first place?

Holy shit.