A Catholic bishop in the state of Illinois has halted a traveling tour of a relic of St. Jude in his diocese after some sort of “incident” allegedly took place between a visiting priest who oversees the exhibit and several students. It’s important to point out that without a whole lot of details, it’s imperative to not jump to the worst conclusions, which would be some sort of sexual misconduct. It seems this incident took place in public, so it’s highly doubtful that is what transpired.
There was a statement released by Father Michael Lane and Father Gregory Alberts from Queen of the Apostles Catholic Church located in Joliet, Illinois which revealed that last Thursday their parish hosted the relic. A priest who serves with the Canadian order Companions of the Cross was in charge of the visit through the “Treasures of the Church,” ministry.
Here’s more on this from The National Catholic Register:
During the visit, “an incident with the priest and some students was reported to have happened in our church,” it continued. “We immediately contacted the police,” the priests said. “A police investigation is still ongoing. The priest was confronted with the information. We informed the priest that he must depart from our parish and out of our diocese.”
The priests subsequently canceled the remainder of the relic’s visit, they said. They further informed Joliet Bishop Ronald Hicks, who “canceled the tour of the relic scheduled at two more of our parishes this week.” The bishop “also informed the superior of the Companions of the Cross Order of priests” of the incident.
“All involved in this incident are safe,” the priests said in their statement on the situation.
While the initial statement did not reveal the name of the priest involved in the matter, an0ther report revealed his identity as Father Carlos Martins, the director of the Treasures of the Church. He is also a well known exorcist for the Catholic Church and was tapped to create a catechetical podcast on the topic which features dramatic recreations of his case files known as “The Exorcist Files.” It’s wildly popular and, if I do say so myself, quite terrifying. However, it does feature a ton of solid theological information about demonic possession and deliverance ministry.
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CNA could not immediately confirm whether Father Martins was the priest referenced in the statement. Reached by CNA on Sunday afternoon, Father Martins declined to comment.
“Treasures of the Church is based out of Michigan. It identifies itself as a ‘ministry of evangelization of the Catholic Church’ that exists ‘to give people an experience of the living God through an encounter with the relics of his saints in the form of an exposition,'” the report said in its conclusion.