The Sad and Unjust Treatment of Bishop Thomas Gumbleton

 The story of what has happened to this Bishop is so sad and unnecessary.

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, a retired auxiliary bishop of Detroit, revealed for the first time yesterday details about the church's refusal to  allow him to continue ministry as a parish pastor in 2007, after resigning as Bishop when he came to normal retirement age.

The refusal to allow him to continue as an administrative pastor on a year by year basis after he retired as bishop ( which is a normal practice), came quickly after he had given testimony in 2006 in Ohio supporting an extension of the statue of limitations for survivors of clerical sexual abuse filing suit re: their abuse.  

In a written letter containing the Vatican's assessment of this testimony, in which Gumbleton also revealed that he himself was abused by a priest when he was a teen: 
Gumbleton was told as a result of his testimony,  he had violated the "communion of bishops."known as the "communio episcaporum":

NCR have now published a detailed report of the talk Gumbleton delivered at pre-conference meeting of Call to Action Conference in Milwaukee on November 4th, 2011 which can be read here. 

Below are two videos of Bishop Gumbleton addressing an audience of more than 100 people at the same conference.

In this first one he explains the reasons that led him to give testimony and the reactions of his fellow bishops to him after his testimony.

Bishop Gumbleton closed his speech by listing changes needed in order to address the problem of sex abuse in the church, primarily by ordaining "people who are more fully developed persons."

Bishop Gumbleton's parishioners speak out on his behalf and talk about the impact of his ministry on their lives. 

I found parts of this very poignant.