There. Is. No. Connection.

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jan 28, 2006

In earlier interviews with news media, Chicago's versatile Fr. Dan McCormack was too modest to mention his past accomplishments as a utility infielder.

The Rev. Daniel McCormack was arrested last week and charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of two young boys, and a third later made allegations against him.

But CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine has learned that the Cook County state's attorney's office has received contact from a former classmate of McCormack's at Niles College, a pipeline for candidates bound for the priesthood at the seminary in Mundelein.

That former classmate claims that when both he and McCormack were students at Niles College in 1988, he awoke to find his pants pulled down and McCormack standing over him.

Levine has spoken to both the alleged victim and a classmate that victim confided in at the time. Both have asked to remain anonymous, but they confirm the incident recounted for us by others as well.

This morning's meditation, boys and girls, comes from America magazine's recent editorial:

Anything that seeks to remove gay men and women from the place that is theirs within the body of Christ by virtue of their baptism or to deny their contributions to the church should, of course, be rejected. So should anything that conflates homosexuality with pedophilia or ephebophilia. The connection between them is unsupported by any credible empirical evidence, and the scapegoating and vilification of gay priests is against Christian charity.

I added the emphasis, but I'm sure the editors would be happy I did.