Sadly, these things are no longer unusual enough ...

The evening of March 27, Winnebago County [Batavia, Illinois] sheriff’s deputies were sent to the Road Ranger Gas Station at 4980 S. Main St. in regards to a man who had exposed himself to an employee. 

On arrival, the deputies spoke to a clerk at the station who indicated that a white male had been inside the business and had exposed himself while in the store and also while parked in a vehicle in the lot of the store. There were other employees and customers present inside the store at the time of the incident. 

The subject had left the area prior to the deputies’ arrival. However, the suspect’s license plate number had been obtained. The vehicle was not located that evening, and the case was assigned to sheriff’s detectives for additional follow-up. 

 

The results of the investigation were reviewed with the Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office, and an arrest warrant was obtained on May 23 for Aaron R. Brodeski, 44.

Brodeski is a Catholic priest in the Rockford Diocese assigned to a parish in Batavia. 

The Rockford Diocese and Bishops office were appraised of the investigation. According to the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office, the Diocese and Bishops office “have been very cooperative and helpful.” 

Father Brodeski turned himself in on the warrant May 23 and was held at Winnebago County Jail. Father Brodeski is charged with two misdemeanor counts of public indecency. 

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I note that Father Brodeski is actually Monsignor Brodeski, monsignor being

"an honorific form of address for those members of the clergy of the Catholic Church who receive from the pope certain ecclesiastical honorific titles granted to individuals who have rendered valuable service to the Church or who provide some special function in church governance..."

In most cases, the title was granted by the Vatican on the recommendation of the local bishop to reward clergy, often simply as a recognition of many decades of service. Monsignor Brodeski is only 44. Pope Francis, by the way, soon after his election suspended the relatively indiscriminate granting of the title, and he allows it now only for men at least 65 years of age.

This story itself is not unusual enough to qualify as part of Damien's queer world in the way we use the word here. What struck me as queer, rather, was the news source's decision never to refer to Monsignor Brodeski by his honorific title, something almost always done in happier circumstances. Since some traditional Catholics think of monsignors as little bishops, (the title monsignor being commonly given to bishops themselves in European countries), perhaps the editorial decision was a friendly attempt to distance the bishop Rockford from the incident.

Monsignor is pastor of the parish, not just "assigned to it." Also not mentioned in this report is that the delay between the reporting of the incident and the arrest warrant is that Monsignor had been sent for evaluation in the interim.

As a former seminarian, I know any number of clergy who have found themselves in situations similar to this. Often -- though not at all uniformly -- these were men who had been quite conservative and law-minded in the seminary and who had become the favored sons of their conservative bishops. Many of them were very nice guys, and it saddens me whenever I hear of something like this. Monsignor Brodeski may be in many ways an admirable and sincere man. One hopes that is the case. Whatever the problem is, one also hopes it can be dealt with effectively.

  

In the present instance, there are as yet no reports of physical sexual abuse of minors, and it would be unjust to assume there will be.

Lest I seem only concerned about the accused priest, let me say that I also know victims of clerical sexual abuse, and I know how their lives and the lives of their families were horribly disrupted (and in some cases, destroyed) by what happened. There is no excuse for the way the American hierarchy (with the collusion of the Vatican) has continued to blame the victims for decades while the scandal undermined what little public moral authority the bishops still had in this country. It looks like the present pope (finally!) may move strenuously to bring justice to victims and appropriate disciplinary actions to bear on those responsible -- be they priests or monsignors or bishops.