Catholic Priest Reports He Fathered O'Fallon Boy With Terminal Cancer

A Wisconsin diocese late Friday suspended a Roman Catholic priest who fathered a child during a five-year relationship in Illinois and may have been involved separately with a minor.

[Ljo]

Nathan grew up with a very loving father. He has had a very privledged life and is loved so very much. His illness is heartbreaking, and we are grieving intencely. I pray we can have happy days with him in the time he has left. Please let this story fade so our final days can be happy days.

[communists suck]

Catholic church = pediphials "R" us!

It is sickening how this "church" order protects these molestors from the law.

[rbird]

This is a weirdo masquerading as a priest and anyone who gets sucked into his schemes is a victim. Can you imagine this guy doleing out advice on morals and ethics?

[RETIRED1]

Well at least he wasn't raping the buttocks of a young boy as so many catholic priests have done!

[city4]

Should have made the bed not slept in it 20+ years ago!

[open minded]

to both communists sucks and retired1 I guess neither one of you have ever heard about any other religions having the same issues. I believe it was a baptist minister that tortured and murdered many women. I am not baptist but I am not so shallow minded to judge baptists by a sick freak so why must catholics be so horrible. Their are so many sick people in the world and we probably only actually find out about only a few. We have sick people running the country as well but yet that won't be an any newspaper headline, but if it is regarding a catholic or republican that will make front page news. Food for thought, don't be so quick to judge you just never know who's evil and who's not

[Layla0219]

A 20 year old woman has an affair with a priest and then expects the church to support their son? This story doesn't mention rape, so why is the church responsible for supporting the child and mother? I just don't get it.

[Carolyn Disco]

So parishioners of Our Lady of the Lake parish basically gave Willenborg a “standing ovation” with a “lot of love pouring out for him”(according to Bishop Christensen), when he admitted fathering a child.

That ovation and the comments in the press about “everyone makes mistakes,” what a “prophet priest” Willenborg is, how he “cares about the people” are very disturbing; a brutal twist, according to a noted Catholic blog.

Such cheap forgiveness and cheap grace distort the NYTimes report of what comes across to many as a self-centered man who exploited a vulnerable, clearly-troubled woman – and allegedly a high school student as well. In any other professional field, he may well have been stripped of his license, and maybe even prosecuted for criminal conduct.

After the student’s accusations, we read Willenborg was sent immediately to a treatment center for priests with sexual disorders and substance addictions. That must be the failed Paraclete Center, reinforcing its notoriously-ineffective record with abusers. After seven months’ residence, Willenborg headed straight to Ms. Bond to have sex.

Incredibly, a few years later, he was put in charge of spiritual formation at a seminary. There were NO consequences for his conduct beyond promotion and new placements to positions of honor.

Consider, this “wonderful counselor” is also the father who on not seeing his son for about 12 years, takes a 13-year-old to McDonald’s where it is impossible to have privacy, and then to the movie,“What Women Want.” My God, what appalling insensitivity.

Then he kept his son waiting two years before following through on a promise of tickets to a baseball game with him. Imagine an excited teenager aching to know his father waiting and waiting to hear from someone who lives 15 minutes away. No wonder Nathan declined further contact after such heartbreak. It just hurt too much. The final insult to Nathan was Willenborg’s demand for DNA testing; talk about emotional abandonment and rejection.

This priest knew of Bond’s clear dysfunction, and still used her for his own purposes, regardless of the damage to others. Wake up, please. Willenborg stayed and played, taking advantage of the deference and neediness of Catholics trained in the mindset of St. John Vianney that,“After God, the priest is everything.” Willenborg was amply served, and yet he complains in the article that Bond was not considerate of his needs. Clerical narcissism jumps off the page; it’s all about HIM.

No, this is finally about accepting responsibility, accountability and justice. Ovations have no place here.

Remember the words of Bishop John Kinney, a former official at the national bishops’ conference:“We learned that even those priests who seem to their congregations, their fellow priests, and their superiors among the most dedicated and pastorally sensitive can be abusers.” Abusers of their power, abusers of their child, and a disgrace to the priesthood.

Should not forgiveness and redemption await signs of true repentance, not accusations against Bond about confidentiality and money? For shame. The Scriptural injunction that what is done in darkness will be brought to light is apt, even if it took 23 years and cancer for the truth to set Bond and her son free of their terrible secret.