He did what? Archbishop Chaput destroyed the files?

by Thomas C. Fox

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tfox@ncronline.org

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Did you get a chance to read the latest chapter in the very revealing saga of the sacked Australian bishop, William Morris?

NCR Editor at Large has been following the story and reports on today's Web site that Morris, referring to a report written by Archbishop Charles Chaput, said to Roberts he knows it exists because Chaput sent him an e-mail 'telling me that he'd sent an electronic copy as well as a hard copy to the dicastery for bishops, and then he did what he was supposed to do. He destroyed both the electronic copy and the hard copy, so he didn't have a copy any more.'"

So Morris was sacked after Chaput came into the Australian bishop's diocese, spent three days talking to people, then leaves, never sharing with Morris who he has seen or what had been said to him. Then he writes a report, without sharing it with Morris, sends it to Rome, and apparently, obediently, destroys the original copy and related materials.

Chaput told NCR the secrecy is to protect all involved. It is? Morris, meanwhile, says he would like to see the report made public. He releases those who want to "protect" him from secrecy. It seems Morris is not afraid of the light of day and, one might think, only the light of day can now save him from the slander that he has suffered.

As I noted earlier, at least in the mock trials in China and Iran charges are read aloud before the victim is carted away, never to be heard from again.

I keep praying there is something here I simply do not get, some missing link that will help make sense of this. Because to date the actions involved here are most unbecoming of decent people and out of line with what one might associate with Christian community.

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