Excerpts of Statement of Fr. Thomas Euteneuer regarding his departure from HLI and the recent speculation.
Statement of Fr. Thomas Euteneuer: setting the record straight
January 31, 2011
It is with great sadness, but also with a certain measure of relief, that I can now respond to the many inquiries about my departure as president of Human Life International (HLI) at the end of August 2010. It has been painful for me to remain silent in light of the ongoing speculation, particularly when much of it assigned blame to those who were, in fact, blameless. I am thankful to be able to set the record straight so that speculation can stop and blame can be placed right where it belongs – with me.
Father then describes some of the more outlandish accusations against him that have been offered by some on the internet. He then goes on to say…
While I would otherwise willingly suffer calumnies in silence to atone for my sins, and knowing how pointless it is to respond to every crackpot with a website, I cannot remain silent when such falsehoods threaten to damage the Church, the priesthood, and other innocent persons and organizations that are or have been linked to me. I therefore affirm and will never deviate from my affirmation that the following are true:
- My violations of chastity were limited to one person only, an adult woman;
- The violations of chastity happened due to human weakness but did not involve the sexual act;
- The accusation that I “targeted” vulnerable women or otherwise sought them out for spiritual direction is utterly false and a serious defamation of my character and ministry;
- With rare exceptions, my exorcism/prayer ministry was always conducted with prayer helpers (third parties) present; situations where prayer or pastoral care occurred without helpers present were exceptional situations where I believed it was necessary for me to act quickly in order to help the afflicted person; while not proper protocol, these departures from the norm were never done with a motive to be alone with vulnerable women;
- I repudiate any allegations of financial impropriety in conducting my prayer/exorcism ministry; I never, under any circumstances, solicited money for the ministry other than travel-related reimbursements, nor did I use HLI donor funds to carry out this work; any gifts offered to me were unsolicited and only accepted so as not to offend the giver and in most cases immediately given to those more needy than myself;
- I have no knowledge of any persons who received any financial settlement in this matter, nor have I asked for that to be given.
Read the statement in its entirety here.
Post amended out of unrequited courtesy to LifeSiteNews
**Note: The comment box will be closely monitored, please remain civil and respectful.
February 1, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Sue, I don't know whether it matters whether he reported himself or was caught. That sounds like morbid curiosity rather than a simple prayer for a priest's soul and for his further ministry. And I also question the need to know information about his fall – was it intercourse or not. He was honest and courageous. That's enough for me.
February 1, 2011 at 11:28 pm
well, LifeSiteNews is run out of the same building as HLI, not sure of the connection, if any though.
February 2, 2011 at 12:15 am
Pray for our prominent Catholics. They are under attack. Lord keep them close to you that they might continue to be a reflection of you in the world. This is sad news.
February 2, 2011 at 1:20 am
Hopefully now the vicious calumny against Father will stop.
But I don't think so.
February 2, 2011 at 1:30 am
I find myself agreeing with the person who thought something was "off" about the statement. I think I know what it is…..
I believe it comes from the part of the statement where "Fr. E" states that he is under the obedience to his Bishop and directed all questions to the Bishops office.
I think it is "off" because we Americans are not used to seeing an American priest/nun, who is in the public eye, publicly and staunchly state that he/she is under obedience to his/her Bishop.
There are many lessons for all of us to be learned from "Fr. E's" situation. Let us pray for "Fr. E," his Bishop and all of those involved.
February 2, 2011 at 1:48 am
"…While I would otherwise willingly suffer calumnies in silence to atone for my sins, and knowing how pointless it is to respond to every crackpot with a website, I cannot remain silent when such falsehoods threaten to damage the Church,…"
Oh?
Crackpots with web sites?
Very Roman Catholic Priest of the Padre.
First of all, there was a serious problem.
It got flushed out by the crackpots on the web.
The Truth certainly did not come from the Padre or his Bishop.
The Truth came out because of 'crackpots'.
We are called to gently admonish and correct, not to castigate 'crackpots' that pull the Truth out of us.
The Novus Ordos just don't get it.
*
February 2, 2011 at 2:28 am
You're hard on him, "St Michael Come to our Defense." Father E was talking about the crackpots on the web that were spreading vicious stories. People aren't satisfied to think that maybe only one sin was committed. Some people will add to it because of emotions and because their minds envision a train wreck.
You know, Father E was calling them what they were: crackpots. Nothing unchristian about that. (It's not like he was identifying them by name).
I also think you're taking some kind of perverse pleasure in this by your comment about Novus Ordos. Shame on you.
February 2, 2011 at 2:36 am
I can't tell if the lustful act was committed in connection with an exorcism or elsewhere. I hope not the former. I think it was billy graham who refused to ever counsel women of a certain age alone. A good lesson there.
February 2, 2011 at 2:51 am
There are many things "off" about this statement.
No woman on the other side of the sex with a priest who admits to breaking his chastity vows would ever tell you that there wasn't a 'sexual act'.
Those two statements are diametrically opposed.
If you broke your vows of chastity, you engaged a woman sexually. There is no such thing as "THE sex act", unless you are subscribe to the Bill Clinton school of thought.
An elaborate charade was rolled out by HLI to facilitate Fr. Euteneur's departure that made it appear as if Fr. E was being martyred for his orthodoxy and pro-life work.
He could have easily departed HLI by simply saying he was resigning to retreat to the cavern, to contemplate and pray and had resigned HLI voluntarily.
But no, he made it look like his Bishop was calling him back under the vow of obedience and was holed up in the Padre Pio prison of internal persecution.
Realizing the gig was up, this statement was released at arms length from the diocese as it maligns the people forcing the charade to its end of being malicious crackpots.
At the end of the day, no matter what priests and Bishops do to women and children, they can make martyrs out of themselves and crackpots out of the people exposing their lies.
February 2, 2011 at 3:22 am
Jack,
If you can't tell whether the lustful acts were committed in connection with exorcism or elsewhere, that is by design. If Father fell in love and had an indiscretion, that would be one thing. If the indiscretion came upon a spiritually and emotionally sick woman in the middle of an exorcism, in this day, as this stands, Catholic men and women want their Bishops to cover it up as this went down?
There's a big old hole in this manipulative statement and everything can be accused of being calumny or malicious. The beauty of it is, he can sit back and watch the faithful do it for him.
It is not a good day for women and children in the Catholic religion today.
February 2, 2011 at 4:49 am
In response to Sue2, it is not out of morbid curiosity that I want to know if he turned himself in, it is just that, don't we all feel so Sorry, after we get caught? Someone who turns himself in, well that is a higher moral character. It makes a difference. Also, I agree with Carol, when she says, "No woman on the other side of the sex with a priest who admits to breaking his chastity vows would ever tell you that there wasn't a 'sexual act'. " I guess that is what has me confused. How can you break chastity if there was no sexual act?? That IS the Bill Clinton school of thought. I did not have Sexual Realtions with that woman! Really?? Then how was chastity broken? That seems like lying to me, and is NOT honest & courageous. So I am confused. It is like teen girls who don't have intercourse, but have oral sex, and claim they are not sexually active or that they haven't had sex. Um, yes they have! That said, I will still pray for him. I do believe he needs prayers.
February 2, 2011 at 6:04 am
I thought it was Clintonesque as well! He also seems to care so much about his reputation (exactly what he did and exactly what he didn't do) than the person he harmed. Those who see humility here are a bunch of dupes.
If you break your vow of chastity, you did a sexual act. It creeps me out that he wants to hint that there was no intercourse. So, he's a cheater, but doesn't even have the cujones to make love like a normal man. YIKES!
Thanks for involving the entire community in unwitting speculation about what you did and didn't do, Father, and making the Church and per priests a laughingstock yet again.
February 2, 2011 at 6:10 am
People… let it go. Unless you're psychic or putting an ear to the confessional, too many of you are pretending to know more than you possibly could know.
A little fraternal correction provided by a fellow sinner.
February 2, 2011 at 6:58 am
Warren,
It isn't about the sin – really it isn't. It is about the charade of pretending he was being called back out of his ministry to be obedient to his Bishop and having us thinking he was holed up under the Chancery.
It matters under these circumstances what happened because of the charade, don't you see?
It was all a ruse and we don't know whether a sick woman was abused during a rite. That is bad and we wouldn't want a Bishop to concoct a big ruse to cover it up. Not under these circumstances.
The manipulating statement incites the faithful to do the dirty work of raging against women who were spiritually manipulated and the diocese couldn't man up to do it from their own communications machine.
February 2, 2011 at 8:40 am
"The vow of chastity forbids all voluntary sexual pleasure, whether interior or exterior…" – Catholic Encyclopedia.
All he had to do to break his vow was to have voluntary lustful thoughts about another person. Kissing her in a lustful way would also break his vow, so let's not ASSUME that he was involved in some physical sexual act other than intercourse, like Clinton was involved in. We don't know what happened and it is not our business to know! This is between Father, the woman involved, and his Bishop.
In true charity, we should be praying for all of our priests, including Fr. E. I am very saddened for him and for the woman involved, as both have committed grave sin (if the woman was "in her right mind"). I will pray for them both, and know that God's mercy is infinite.
February 2, 2011 at 1:57 pm
Carol,
I get what you are saying and I get your concern, but you do have your own blog where you have written and linked extensively. For anyone who is interested – morbid curiosity or not – there is plenty on the internet without having to go to comment on other sites to ensure that everyone knows that there is plenty on the internet.
My bottom line is this. God is the judge. No one can know what is going on in this man's heart except God and this man. That's the reason that God is the judge. Coming from many years in protestantism, I must admit that I think they may have a head start on this one, since so little goes detected or publicized with them and certainly not to the degree of the Catholic Church. At some level, there is regard for and belief in the truth that, "Vengence is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." It is absolutely terribly frightening to consider what may come of someone who chooses darkness rather than light because God knows, and although it may look like a cover-up, as you said on your own site about a commentor, appearances are not necessarily true. Should all efforts be made to ensure that NO person ever has to be concerned about sexual abuse and predation from the Catholic Church? That's a no-brainer. My prayers are definitely with this woman, her heart and her mind, which seems have both been broken.
All that being said, and knowing that truth is the best path, can we just pray?
February 2, 2011 at 2:01 pm
I am proud of Father and Our Holy Mother Church. Father's ministry has yielded so much good fruit and he continues to do so with his humility by his obedience to his bishop and vocation.
A sinner myself, I understand the anguish and pain Father must be feeling. And I am grateful, as he is, for the mercy and forgiveness offerred by Christ Jesus. And if Christ is willing to forgive him, we should do the same and not question the sincerity of this statement.
Unless you have solid evidence otherwise, stop the speculation.
February 2, 2011 at 2:36 pm
People–back off. Examine your own conscience and move on. Christ said, "he who is without sin–cast the first stone." Stop the guess work and accusations.
nana
February 2, 2011 at 3:54 pm
The HLI statement doesn't help Fr. E.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/human-life-international-responds-to-fr-euteneuers-release-about-his-resig/
This ain't over.
February 2, 2011 at 4:47 pm
I am cross-posting the key citations of HLI's statement today which I would humbly ask readers to compare to yesterday's statement from Fr. E and my comments above.
FRONT ROYAL, VA (Human Life International) – The HLI Board of Directors, in response to a public statement by Rev. Thomas Euteneuer, issues this further statement and clarification:
"In August 2010, HLI received allegations of inappropriate conduct by Rev. Euteneuer involving a young adult woman, which occurred within the context of his exorcism ministry. The Board immediately commenced an inquiry into the allegations, and Rev. Euteneuer admitted inappropriate conduct. At that time, Bishop Gerald Barbarito recalled Rev. Euteneuer to the Diocese of Palm Beach, and HLI sought and received Rev. Euteneuer's resignation.
Since the time of Rev. Euteneuer's resignation, the Board subsequently learned of additional allegations in connection with his exorcism ministry. As Rev. Euteneuer no longer serves as president of HLI, we are not especially endowed with the competence or authority to investigate, evaluate, or act on these additional allegations, but they have been submitted to the proper ecclesiastical authorities."
I commend HLI for having the honor to reveal these facts. I pray this is the end of the spiritual manipulation from the diocese, from Fr. E and from lay Catholics in the pews who took a nice ride on the charade.