A Los Angeles Times story today tells the 11-year-old tale of a woman who had sex with a Catholic seminarian in Oregon and got pregnant. She sued the Archdiocese of Portland for child support, as the father was a church worker. The archdiocese’s attorney filed a pleading in the name of then-Archbishop William Levada denying responsibility, claiming the mother had engaged “in unprotected intercourse … when (she) should have known that could result in pregnancy.” Pretty funny coming from the Catholic Church, no?
It gets better. The seminarian? He was ordained as a priest the same year that he agreed to pay $215/month in child support in exchange for the mother dropping the lawsuit and agreeing to confidentiality. Archbishop Levada? He’s got Pope Benedict XVI’s old job, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, upholding — among other things — the church’s stance opposing contraception. The entire article is definitely worth a read.