Ex-Priest accused of sexual assualt on teen kills himself.

[Democrats_win]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4103060,00.html

--snip
Burke, an ex-priest accused of sexually abusing a teen more than 30 years ago, committed suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his chest at his home Wednesday morning, according to Pueblo County Coroner James Kramer.
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This is shocking news for Coloradoans since there have been a series of sexual abuse allegations against different Catholic priests lately:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4096731,00.html
--Snip:
Colburn blames his uneasiness with physical contact on a Catholic priest he says sexually assaulted him more than 30 years ago.

Colburn was one of three people to file sexual abuse lawsuits Tuesday against the Archdiocese of Denver, including the first allegations against the Rev. Leonard A. Abercrombie.

[Tace]

1. That's Tragic

The priest was obviously in the wrong line of work.

[saltpoint]

2. If we all agree that no abuse can be considered acceptable conduct --

-- I hope we can also consider that despair is addressable and curable. My question would be, once this priest was accused, was he left without any recourse toward redemption -- either through a prison term which he would presumably have to serve, and further service to others, as courts might assign. If redemption is eliminated, despair rules, and I wonder if that was the junction this guy found himself at.

Maybe the Church should offer young people who have been abused by its priests a new and expansive program to support them emotionally, paid out of the Church's extnesive coffers. Maybe the Church should also offer its accused priests some productive path following accusations and/or prison terms, so that they are in fact productive and contirubtive members of Christ's kingdom.

Condemnation for its own sake is the same as a Roman nail through human flesh. I'm not piling on the Church, but it needs to respond more comprehensively to all its congregates.