Turning tricks

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Oct 02, 2003

Father Vincent Rogers is back at work as the pastor of St. James parish in St. Joseph, Missouri.

His ministerial service had been rudely interrupted by Missouri law-enforcement officials, who arrested the priest along with 100 other men during a crackdown on prostitution. Eventually Father Rogers, who did not contest the charges against him, was sentenced to two years' probation.

Once the court had rendered its judgment, Bishop Raymond Boland of Kansas City saw no reason to keep Father Rogers away from his parishioners any longer. After all he had "satisfactorily completed the requested psychosexual evaluations." And if his "psychosexual" situation was all squared away, what more could anybody want from a pastor of souls?

Parishioners at St. James welcomed back their spiritual leader, giving evidence of the profound theological training he had lavished upon his flock. One woman told a local newspaper that the priest's trangressions should be kept in perspective. "Nobody walks on water," she observed.

Actually someone did walk on water; the incident is recorded in a book to which Father Rogers has probably alluded in his homilies occasionally. But it's true that none of us walks on water. It's salutary to remember that we are all sinners, all capable of a great fall. If we avoid grave sin, it is only through the power of...

... psychosexual evaluations?