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Monday, July 21, 2003
Sanctions v. Ornopia depend on protocol for ‘erring’ priests
FR. OSCAR Ornopia may no longer be investigated by local church officials but sanctions will still be imposed on him once the protocol for priests accused of immorality is approved, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal said yesterday.
The sanctions will depend on the provisions of the protocol, which the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has yet to approve.
“I do not know yet what the sanctions will be because we have not approved the protocol yet. We’ll wait for the protocol before we decide on that,” Vidal told Sun.Star.
Ornopia, 47, was accused of siring two children with a woman from Leyte and keeping another mistress in Cebu City while he was parish priest of San Isidro Labrador parish in Talamban, Cebu City.
In an interview last week, Cardinal Vidal said he will no longer investigate Ornopia since he already admitted his mistakes to the parish pastoral council.
Two parish workers whose services Ornopia terminated last May reported their gripes against the priest to a local TV station immediately after they left the parish convent.
Episcopal Vicar Msgr. Esteban Binghay said that while waiting for the protocol, Ornopia will most likely continue to be on vacation, but he will still be a resident priest of a parish.
“And then whatever the cardinal decides to do with him, of course he will have to make a choice, either he leaves the priesthood and marries the mother of his children, or stays in the priesthood and faces the sanctions. Priests just can’t have the best of both worlds, kahayahay ra no og duha gyud ang ila,” Binghay said.
Redemption
He added that whatever a priest who has children chooses to do, the priest has to support the children financially, as provided for both in the civil law and in the Canon law, which governs the conduct and behavior of the Roman Catholic clergy.
Although the laity and the public may have already judged Ornopia by his mistakes and want him punished, Binghay said the church hierarchy does not operate in the same way.
“Ang mga two ganahan kastigohon gyud ang mga pari na makasala but for us in the church, we will try to save the priest at all cost. We will try to rehabilitate him and make him a saint again but he also has to promise that he will not repeat the mistake, that he will convert and reflect on his wrongdoings,” Binghay added.
Since Ornopia already apologized to his parishioners, Binghay said “there is no more place for suspension and he was allowed to go on vacation to have time to reflect.”
While currently on vacation at their family residence in Tabogon town in northern Cebu, Ornopia asked the media to leave him and his family alone. He said that despite the allegations against him, his parishioners in Talamban still support him. LCR
(July 21, 2003 issue)
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