A 41-year-old friar and former teacher at Baltimore's Archbishop Curley High School was arrested this week in Connecticut and charged with inappropriate conduct with a child, according to police.
Michael Miller, a member of the Conventual Franciscan Friars, was charged Tuesday with risking injury, impairing the morals of a minor and attempted acts of obscenity, according to the Berlin, Conn., Police Department. He was freed in lieu of $150,000 bail and was ordered to appear in court in Berlin on July 26.
Officials at Archbishop Curley High School confirmed Thursday that Miller taught religion there in the mid-1990s and again between 2003 and 2006. From 2006 until shortly before his arrest, he was the parochial vicar at St. Paul Church in Kensington, part of the town of Berlin, but was suspended "from all public ministry" on July 4, after the Archdiocese of Hartford learned of the allegations against him, according to a statement from officials of the Franciscan order.
Anyone who has experienced inappropriate contact and/or conduct by Fr. Michael Miller should contact the Berlin Police Department at 860-828-7080. They are also encouraged to contact Sister Mary Kelly at the Archdiocese of Hartford at 860-541-6491. She is the coordinator of the Victim Assistance Program and can offer some assistance.
ReplyDeleteIt is way past obvious that celibacy for the Priests is no longer a viable "lifestyle". The Catholic Church needs to recognize that we are near the "end times" and especially in America, the society is far too gone for celibacy.
ReplyDeleteThe media is full of temptation, the clothig of young people (influenced by Hollywood) is far too revealing, and the general attitude towards free and open sex is much too pervasive for celibacy to work out well.
The result is continued evidence of "pent up" sexual tensions spilling out onto the congregation. This must stop!