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Wednesday, February 18, 2004

So Is Bishop O'Brien Going To Hell? (And Will He Be Enjoying The Drive?)

A Phoenix jury has convicted retired bishop Thomas O'Brien of leaving the scene of a deadly accident. Police say he hit and killed a man. O'Brien says he thought he hit a dog, a cat, or a rock.

The accident happened just weeks after O'Brien cut a deal with Maricopa County prosecutors admitting, yeah, he moved suspected sicko sex-abusing priests around without telling anybody about it. He then pulled a Clinton saying no, that's not what I said.

This leads us back to the accident, in which testimony showed the bishop didn't see anything, didn't stop, didn't call police, didn't answer phone calls from friends, didn't answer his door when officers were standing outside... and didn't seem to think he had done anything wrong.

The law in Arizona requires drivers to turn around and go back if a "reasonable person" would suspect he or she had just injured somebody. Everything I've seen up to now tells me O'Brien's less than reasonable. Maybe that should have been his defense.

His problem isn't immorality, it's amorality. Not dishonesty, but ahonesty. He just doesn't know what the truth is, or just can't tell it. I have a hard time figuring out how this man made it through seminary. Did he fake his divinity? Was he really feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit within him or just the scent of Bounce from his clerical shirt?

Smart money says he'll probably avoid prison time. But I'd love to see somebody come up with black and white stripes to match that priest's collar.

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