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| Father Gallagher |
Father
John Gallagher, a priest from West Palm Beach says the Catholic Church is
trying to force him out because he blew the whistle on a pedophile priest. When Gallagher found out that one of his
priests, Jose Palimatton, had shown child pornography to a teenage boy, he
reported it to the Diocese of Palm Beach. But he says they didn't want to hear
it.
"When
I made the initial phone call to the Diocese, I was told we are used to this,
we normally put people like this on an airplane," Gallagher said. The head of the Diocese, Bishop Gerald
Barbarito, told Gallagher that he didn't want to know the details of the crime. So Gallagher called the sheriff's office.
Palimatton was arrested, pleaded guilty, got 6 months in jail and was deported
back to India.
Since
then, the church has treated Gallagher like an outcast: while he was out on medical leave, the Diocese
removed all his possessions from the rectory where he lived and changed the
locks on the door. When he tried to tell
Cardinal Sean O'Malley in Boston – who is on Pope Francis’ committee to stop
clergy crime, O'Malley told him to take a very long vacation – and this was in
back in October, 2015.
"And
what did you take that to mean?" asked CBS12 reporter Al Pefley. "That
means what it means. Go away," Gallagher explained. Even though the police
wrote a letter to Cardinal Sean O'Malley in Boston, commending Gallagher for
his actions, O’Malley ignored him. The
Diocese of Palm Beach of course, denied they were harassing Gallagher and said
he went on medical leave “freely on his own”.
Is
it any wonder that more whistleblower priests don’t come forth? Pope Francis
with O’Malley as head of his sex abuse commission -- that has done nothing to
help the abused for three years -- is doing what comes naturally for the
catholic church: stonewalling, denying, covering up and continuing the abuse.
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