'Sacrilege': Missouri priest punished for sexual solicitation during confession
A Missouri priest has been found guilty of sexual solicitation during confession in what the diocese has condemned as a “sacrilege” and a “grave form of abuse.”
In a Jan. 1 statement, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri, announced that Father Ignazio Medina had been found guilty of sexual solicitation of an adult during confession. The investigation and disciplinary process was overseen by the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law states that “a priest who, in confession, or on the occasion or under the pretext of confession, solicits a penitent to commit a sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue, is to be punished, according to the gravity of the offence, with suspension, prohibitions and deprivations.”
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The Code of Canon Law declares that a priest guilty of sexual solicitation during confession “is to be dismissed from the clerical state” in “the more serious cases.” The Sixth Commandment forbids adultery as well as all other forms of sexual activity and intimacy outside of a lifelong marriage between a man and a woman.
Medina, who formerly served as pastor of Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Lake Ozark, will remain a member of the priesthood although he is “permanently deprived of the right to hold any ecclesiastical office (parish or diocesan) and of the faculty to hear confessions.”
Additionally, Medina has lost the right to “celebrate or concelebrate Mass except with his diocesan bishop’s explicit permission, which will not be granted except for extraordinary circumstances.” The diocese noted that the penalties imposed on the priest will go into effect immediately.
The diocese received a report on its “Safe Environment abuse hotline” in April 2022, alleging the priest’s act of wrongdoing. After the tip was received, Jefferson City Bishop W. Shawn McKnight banned Medina from hearing confessions and from “being alone with anyone other than his family on church property.”
Our Lady of the Lake’s website indicates that Medina no longer serves as pastor of the church. It lists Fr. Michael W. Penn as the current pastor, with an appointment date of 2022. According to the website, Medina began serving as pastor in 2021.
The diocese concluded a preliminary investigation into Medina’s behavior in June 2022 and four months later, the Holy See instructed McKnight to “establish an administrative disciplinary process to determine guilt.” McKnight delegated the disciplinary process to a priest and canon lawyer from the Archdiocese of Toronto in Canada.
In November, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith approved a decree finding Medina guilty of sexual solicitation during confession and authorizing the imposition of permanent penalties against him.
Since Medina declined to appeal, the punishments are final.
Reacting to the development, McKnight said he told Medina that “he will not be allowed to celebrate or concelebrate mass publicly except for funeral Masses of his immediate family, at the gatherings of priests at their annual conference in October, and at the Chrism Mass during Holy Week.”
“I want to be clear that sexual solicitation during confession is a sacrilege, a crime in our Church, and a grave form of abuse; it cannot be tolerated,” McKnight added. “With God’s help we must work to continue to eradicate abuse from all corners of our Church. Please join me in prayer for all who are left in pain and confusion when a trusted leader abuses their position of sacred trust and power for sinful purposes.”
McKnight expressed gratitude to the victim for “stepping forward,” adding, “I pray for healing.”
“As we move forward together, I seek the renewal of our Church by facing the awful reality of abuse with the hope and grace of the Gospel, which provides the healing we all need,” he remarked.
While Medina will have most of the privileges associated with priesthood revoked, he will continue to live out his remaining days as a priest in addition to receiving financial support as a retired priest.
Confession, often referred to as reconciliation or penance, is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church. It involves reciting the Act of Contrition and confessing sins to a priest.
Methods of hearing confessions vary from church to church. In some cases, the priest and the penitent see each other face-to-face, while other churches have the priest seated behind one wall of an alcove located within the church as the penitent recalls his or her sins on the other side of the wall. In these types of confessions, the priest and the penitent do not see one another.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
