Monsignor Dale Fushek Arrested In Phoenix

A few years ago a girlfriend's young son was staying over in the hospital for the first time. They asked his religion and his Mother said Catholic. So, the nurse says, well, I'll have the Father look in on him, is there anything else I can do?

I said, yeah - don't leave him alone with him. I swear to God, she wouldn't turn away from the wall because she was laughing so hard. It's a damn shame this is all going on - but it is.

PHOENIX (AP) -- The former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix was arrested Monday on charges he fondled boys and young men and asked them prying questions about their sex lives that he pretended were part of confession.

Monsignor Dale Fushek, 53, becomes one of the highest-ranking priests to be charged in the sex scandal that has engulfed the church. The vicar general is the highest-ranking administrator of a diocese next to the bishop.

Fushek was charged with three counts of assault, five of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two of indecent exposure. All are misdemeanors, punishable by no more than three years and nine months in all.

Comments

[Smokey]

What a dirtbag, this guy should be locked up in one with all the other scum who prey on children.
Seriously I am not even surprised anymore, and that sucks.

[Smokey]

*one cell

[questioner]

Sexual predators should not be allowed to hide behind religion. Everyone should e mail the pope and let him know this. Maybe if he gets thousands of emails he will truly begin the cleanup and the cleanout. This is abuse of power in its worst form and I'm sure the faithful are not so thrilled. period.

[Sgt. York]

-[You missed this news from a few weeks ago:]-

Army Chaplain Sentenced For Sodomizing Troops

November 2, 2005 | AP | BAMBERG, Germany -- A U.S. Army chaplain has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of forcible sodomy against enlisted men. Capt. Gregory Arflack, a 44-year-old Roman Catholic priest, apologized at his court-martial in Germany. He sobbed and said, "I've had a lot of time to pray and consider what I've done as a priest and an officer and I'm ashamed." One of the victims, whom Arflack had been counseling about homesickness and family troubles, told the court, "I don't understand how a person of the cloth could do something like that."

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[_ o _ iwabwu _ O _]

Sad. Why do people do things like that?

[Chris]

Do you guys seriously believe this.... I know this man, hes a good friend. Ive know him a long time as a boy. I trust this man with my life and he would never do a thing liek this at all.

Hes a great man, and the people who convicted him were lying. i know them.

[Jerome]

Guilty or Not, the wrong doing of one man does not speak for the community he serves...

besides none of us know the whole story

[Heather]

I do believe he did this. He is one of the reasons my parents chose to leave St. Timothy's Church. During the years my brother & I were in high school, there were many football games where we saw Fr. Dale on the sidelines patting the butts of some of the kids. He should be locked up forever.

[Jerome]

Just think about what you just said... butt patting at a football happens! Coaches, teammates, heck even referee's! All I'm saying is to not so promptly pass judgement.

[Jacob]

I was in Msgr. Fushek's life teen program at his parish. And I really admire(d) the guy, he spoke with strong conviction and has/had a huge love for us as teens.

In looking back, I did notice that he was more huggy and touchy than I was comfortable with. But as an adult now, I've learned that this form of relating is more common in the California/LA area. This is the same area/seminary that he was formed in, and he grauated high school in the 70's... a whacked-out super-seuxualized time... and seminary in the early 80's.. from the LA seminary. Crazy place with tons of warm-fuzzy touchy-feely ideas of ministry and whacked-out theology. The extreme's of Msgr. Fushek's actions might have been accepted 30-40 years ago, but are totally not acceptable now.

Personally, I think he acted with no immoral intent in all of his interactions with us teens. I think some of his actions, like the rumored tucking in the guys at night on retreat (never saw that but am not surprised by the accusation) is just asking for trouble and was unwise (again assuming no immoral intent). I do think it is possible that he struggles with gay inclinations but would have never brought that into play with minors/teens. I think Msgr. Fushek put himself in the line of fire and with the scandels he was likely to get hit with accusation due to this risky style and his high-profile.

Lastly, it is worth saying that Msgr. Fushek has a lot of enemies who really want to see him taken down. This is not because of his unwise style but because he was so strong in his preaching and his organizational skills allowed his message to reach many thousands of people the world over. Jealosy plays a part. Also, the guy preached orthodox Catholic faith in a strong way... it brought me and many others back from loosing faith. And tons of teens and adults have experienced phenomenal conversion to Jesus Christ and loyalty to the teaching of the Catholic Church because of him and his witness to the faith. Honestly, Msgr. Fushek is not the average guy here.

The best thing to do it to pray for all involved and pray for justice. There is no way to tell what the truth is and what the intent was outside of the court of law.

Lord Jesus, may this man who has brought thousands of souls to you and your church, be blessed and comforted at this time. Bless all involved and help us all, Lord, to respond with profound love. And Lord, bring healing to all involved that we all might become holy as You alone are Holy.

Peace, -Jacob

[John]

He's being accused of asking detailed questions on the accusers sexual lives "during confession".

I was a former seminarian for a number of years and know that detailed questions at times whether their about one's sexual life or any other aspect is only normal for the priest to pass penance. And the screwy thing is he won't be able to justify himself because I am %100 sure he will not talk about these young mens confessions in a court of law since it's forbidden for a priest to tell anothers sins no matter the circumstances.

Personaly I don't think he's guilty. He was in such a high profile place that there will be people out there trying to make a buck.

Lets pray for him and all involved.

[Mr. R.]

Jerome said: "Just think about what you just said... butt patting at a football happens! Coaches, teammates, heck even referee's! All I'm saying is to not so promptly pass judgement." But have you ever heard of a priest that's not associated with the game (ie coach, etc.) patting on the butt? Come on, pull your head out of the sand.

ANYONE can perpetrate these things, I have a relative who is a victim of another priest here in the valley. I would not have believed that the priest (who was such a likeable, intelligent guy) was capable of things like that, but he did them. We were just lucky enough to have refutable evidence.

I've also been attending the court for this case. There is ALOT of evidence and many witnesses. Is Fushek the worst? No, but certainly not innocent.

[Ben]

Dale fushek is involved in another bigger scandal at St Timothy in Mesa Az. It was reported a socialpath social worker was chasing the singles from his parish & he does nothing about it. That church lost over 1,000,000.00 in the last 2 years in plate offerings. To make things worse Pastor Jack ass Spaulding also did nothing about it.

[Ben]

Dale fushek is involved in another bigger scandal at St Timothy in Mesa Az. It was reported a socialpath social worker was chasing the singles from his parish & he does nothing about it. That church lost over 1,000,000.00 in the last 2 years in plate offerings. To make things worse Pastor Jack ass Spaulding also did nothing about it.

[Ben]

Dale fushek is involved in another bigger scandal at St Timothy in Mesa Az. It was reported a socialpath social worker was chasing the singles from his parish & he does nothing about it. That church lost over 1,000,000.00 in the last 2 years in plate offerings. To make things worse Pastor Jack ass Spaulding also did nothing about it.

[Phil Keyack Palm Bay, Florida]

I was part of St Tims from the beginning. Father Simon taught at my now closed Gerard High and brought his radical thinking to the parish. Something our churches need to do more of is waking up. He did just that. Sad to say you can't love God 100% or a wife a 100% at the same time. Being a priest is hard work 24/7. I was raised around a priest and exposed to the enviorment quite a bit. Priest are in short supply and the demands are high on them. Father Dale came in and kept the spirit alive that Father Simon started. Father Dale like all of us wasn't born freed from original sin. He is human. He made a giant mistake indeed in a place of high trust. So did Father Simon with his deception over the years. We must not hate but forgive. We must take the good they gave us and build on it. Pray for them. Keep moving forward as something satan would not want us to do in his mission to destroy another gift from God to the people as Fr. Dale was to us all.