When is a priest not a priest? When he's molesting a child, diocese says in defense of lawsuit | NJ.com

Bollocks!!  Once a priest always a priest, to state otherwise is counter to what ordination within the Church means.

The sacrament of ordination to the priesthood confers a permanent and indelible change in the very being of the person ordained, and that once ordained, one is never again not a priest.   Ordination leaves an eternal mark on the soul  or so says the Father of our local RCC church.
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“Well,” replied the diocese lawyer, “you can determine a priest is not on duty when he is molesting a child, for example. ... A priest abusing a child is absolutely contrary to the pursuit of his master’s business, to the work of a diocese.”

The statement — one prong of the diocese’s argument that it should not be held responsible for McAlinden’s alleged assaults — left Naples reeling.

"Any hope I had that the church was concerned about me as a victim or about the conduct of its priests was totally gone," Naples, now 42, said in a recent interview. "They were washing their hands of it. I was shattered. I just couldn’t believe that was one of their arguments."

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The lawsuit comes after the Delaware courts ruled Naples didn’t have jurisdiction to sue the diocese in that state because he couldn’t prove the trips were church-sanctioned. Naples did win a $3 million judgment against McAlinden individually in Delaware, though he has yet to see a penny.

He expects he never will, saying the priest has few assets.

"This has never been about the money," Naples said. "It’s about exposing him for the monster that he is, and it’s about transparency in the diocese. They knew about McAlinden. They could have done something about it. And they did what every other diocese did. They kept it hush-hush and paid behind-the-scenes settlements."

When is a priest not a priest? When he's molesting a child, diocese says in defense of lawsuit | NJ.com