Sunday, September 02, 2012

living in the eye of a whirlwind

When I was pregnant with my daughter and about to be married, my fiance and I went to one of the priests at my parents' parish to discuss what we needed to do to be married in the church. We were doing it strictly to make my parents happy, I was an atheist by then and my (now ex) husband was an agnostic reformed Jew. But we were willing to go along with ancient rituals of appeasement to the sky god if it made other people happy - no skin off our noses.

But the deal-breaker was that we would not vow to raise my daughter as a Catholic.

I had known the priest since grammar school days at St. Cecilia's. He was one of those young, hip, Jesus Christ Superstar kind of priests. He observed that I "lived in the eye of a whirlwind."

Just on a hunch, I Googled his name last night. It seems there are far worse places to be than in a whirlwind...



Edward A. Igle
Ordained: 1974
Allegations: A West Berlin man said in a lawsuit and in interviews with The Inquirer that the priest assaulted him in the 1970s, beginning when he was 14 years old and continuing until he was 17.
The abuse included rape, and took place at St. Cecilia's church in Pennsauken and at a parish in Blackwood, the man said. The priest paid a $7,000 settlement, the victim said.
Church response: Igle was allowed to remain in ministry after the lawsuit was settled. He was permanently removed in 2000.
Status: Igle, 58, who now lives in Cape May, said in an e-mail that he "denied all the allegations in the lawsuit" and "assumed no guilt or liability." He said he left the priesthood in May 2000 on a voluntary "leave of absence."
Church officials said he had been removed because of abuse allegations.


http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news/2005_10_16_Phillips_ProfilesOf.htm