By now, many people are at least marginally familiar with the Father Gerald Robinson case in Toledo, Ohio. Robinson was convicted on May 11, 2006 of murdering Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in a hospital chapel in 1980. He is serving a sentence of 15 years to life.
David Yonke, religion editor of The Toledo Blade, has written a book about the case; it's titled Sin, Shame and Secrets.
The following excerpt of Yonke's book (p. 176) contains an allegation that could be described as a bombshell:
On September 17 (2004), detectives Forrester and Ross again marched into the Catholic Center and went straight to the fourth-floor chancery, this time demanding access to the files in Father Billian's office.
They reviewed a number of files that were marked 'Privileged,' but found nothing related to the investigation of Father Robinson.
The detectives left the chancery empty-handed.
Officially, Sergeant Forrester said the privileged files involved cases of sexual abuse of children by priests. Off the record, a number of insiders, including a diocesan priest, said the files contained reports of abortions paid for by the diocese.
As of the time this column was submitted for posting, the Toledo diocese had not responded to my e-mail inquiry on the allegation contained in Yonke's book.
Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic columnist with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication, Media and Theatre from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, and an Associate in Applied Science degree in Business Management from Triton College in River Grove, Ill. He has worked in the right-to-life movement and is a published writer focused on Catholic and social issues. He can be reached at mattcabbott@gmail.com.
(Note: I welcome thoughtful feedback from readers. If you want our correspondence to remain confidential, please specify as such in your initial email to me... (more)
Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic columnist with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication, Media and Theatre from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, and an Associate in Applied Science degree in Business Management from Triton College in River Grove, Ill. He has worked in the right-to-life movement and is a published writer focused on Catholic and social issues. He can be reached at mattcabbott@gmail.com.
(Note: I welcome thoughtful feedback from readers. If you want our correspondence to remain confidential, please specify as such in your initial email to me. However, I reserve the right to forward and/or publish emails – complete with email addresses – that are accusatory, insulting or threatening in nature, even if those emails are marked confidential. Also, please be aware that RenewAmerica is not "my" website; RA's president and editor is Stephen Stone, who can be reached at info@renewamerica.com. I'm just one of RA's columnists. I don't speak for the other RA columnists, so please don't email me to complain about what another columnist has written. Thank you and God bless!)
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