Yesterday, after Chris Morley posted a link to Bishop Paprocki's recent interview (link opens to a video) with Lifesite News (the clip at the head of the posting), Kathy Hughes suggested that I post about the Paprocki story. I actually did mention this story in one of my recent postings about John Corvino's book What's Wrong with Homosexuality?
I think Kathy's right (and I'm grateful to her for the suggestion and Chris for the link): this story deserves a free-standing comment. Remember Bishop Paprocki? Sure you do! He's the gent who brought out bell, book, and candle against the gays in Illinois back in November 2013, causing National Catholic Reporter to write an editorial calling his highly unusual public exorcism of gay folks a "stunt" that mocked and offended.
Well, Paprocki's back in the limelight. As I noted several days ago, he was interviewed by the right-wing LifeSiteNews for the recent March for Life event. (No friend of the gays, LifeSiteNews recently published a resounding endorsement of the draconian anti-gay legislation in Uganda by Obianuju Ekeocha of Culture of Life Africa.)
In his interview with LifeSiteNews, Paprocki maintains that he did right in choosing to exorcise the gays last November, because,
Like any good parent will tell you that sometimes you have to disappoint your child, sometimes you have to say "no" and sometimes you even have to punish them.
Obviously, Bishop Paprocki is speaking in loco parentis here. My question as I've observed his behavior for some time now, though:
On what earthly ground does Bishop Thomas Paprocki imagine he represents the parent in his exercise of pastoral ministry? While all the rest of us are children . . . ?
There quite definitely is something loco about all of this.
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