Update: Baltimore Priest Can Return to Active Duty

the Baltimore Sun interviewed the Archbishop of Baltimore concerning the priest who was removed from his duties for various offenses. I think the archbishop aquitted himsefl well in this case:

The pastor of three Catholic parishes in South Baltimore is welcome to return to active ministry after undergoing counseling, said Archbishop Edwin O’Brien.

“I made it clear I want him back in active ministry,” the archbishop said during an interview at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting at the Inner Harbor.

O’Brien made the Rev. Ray Martin resign last week after reports of liturgical and administrative offenses committed over more than a year. Since 2002, Martin had served as pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Holy Cross and St. Mary, Star of the Sea parishes, each of which has about 250 members.

Martin’s reported offenses included hiring a maintenance man with a criminal record and allowing an Episcopal priest to read the Gospel and receive communion at a funeral Mass last month for Locust Point community activist Shirley Doda.

Martin signed a statement agreeing that he brought scandal to the church and was to go to a monastery in Pennsylvania for counseling. He cannot celebrate Mass publicly.

“We’d like him to think these things through so that we can work together,” O’Brien said. “Right now, as a result of these actions, we were not working together.”

Martin allowed Rev. Annette Chappell of Church of the Redemption in Locust Point to participate in the funeral at the request of Doda’s family. Chappell wore vestments, read the Gospel at the funeral and received Communion, she did not pray over the Eucharist during its consecration.