gpppDO OVER
Bet you wouldn't mind this one back, would you, Swinger?
James Tramel went from convicted murderer to priest while in prison, a transformation that the Episcopal Church used to successfully lobby for his parole and celebrate him before politicians and the press.
But the church is now grappling with the sexual abuse of a parishioner under his care. Tramel has been suspended for sexual misconduct, temporarily stripped of his priestly authority and left searching for a new job.
The San Francisco-based Episcopal Diocese of California now faces questions of whether, in its haste to proclaim Tramel’s story, it redeemed and promoted him too quickly.
I'm going to stick my neck out and say yes.
Convicted of second-degree murder in a 1985 slaying, Tramel went to seminary and was ordained a priest while incarcerated in a state prison in Solano County. After he was paroled early in 2006, at the urging of the Episcopal bishop of California, Tramel was quickly placed at the helm of the historic Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco.
It’s there that the victim said Tramel, who is married and has a young child, took advantage of her during counseling sessions.
The Diocese was REAL concerned about the victim.
The diocese acknowledges that Tramel abused his power and committed sexual misconduct, according to diocesan spokesman Sean McConnell, as well as a letter from diocesan Chancellor William Orrick and other documents. Tramel has been suspended for two years, but he can apply for reinstatement after the suspension is served. Tramel did not return calls.
The victim has asked for $265,000 for therapy and to move from her rent-controlled apartment, which is near the Bush Street church, where the relationship started. She also asked that Tramel be prohibited from resuming priestly duties.
The diocese countered with an offer for "spiritual support" - an offer the victim said infuriated her because it would replicate the situation in which she was taken advantage of.
But the diocese is adamant about its stand.
"That’s the only thing the diocese felt - and feels - it owed to her," said Lawrence Lossing, the diocese’s outside counsel.
Don't look at me, says current Bishop Marc Andrus.
The victim said the diocese and its current bishop, the Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, failed to supervise him adequately.
"I feel like the reason they rushed him was because he was such a compelling story," said the woman.
Andrus declined to comment. He is in England at the once-a-decade gathering of bishops in the Anglican Communion, the 77 million-member global body that is represented in the United States by the Episcopal Church. The Telegraph, an English newspaper, named him this week as one of the 20 most influential Anglicans in the world.
When Tramel was placed at Trinity, Andrus approved the decision. Yet Lossing said Andrus had no power in the situation involving Tramel.
"Obviously, Andrus is nothing but the representative, the titular head of the diocese," Lossing said. "He doesn’t have any individual legal investment here."
But the victim said Andrus should have taken more action to supervise a priest with a murder rap.
"If Andrus had taken his responsibility more seriously, this wouldn’t have happened," she said.
Forget it, lady. Taking one's responsibility seriously cuts into a guy's antiwar grandstanding and gay pride parade time.
Submitted by obituary
at 7/18/2008 6:25:25 PM| Good grief. Methinks the lady needs a good lawyer and sues the pants off the bishop, the diocese, the TEC and anyone else involved with this stupidity. The priest himself should be left alone to play the victum as a political move here. Go after the guys with the money, it makes for more fun. Ok going off to pray for my own soul for suggesting all this. |
Submitted by Truth Unites... and Divides
at 7/18/2008 6:29:54 PM| The Telegraph, an English newspaper, named him this week as one of the 20 most influential Anglicans in the world. You gotta be joking. Bishop Marc Andrus, liberal revisionist apostate heretic Marc Andrus is among the top 20 most influential Anglicans in the world??!!!??!!! You gotta be kidding me. No wonder the Anglican Communion and TEc is FUBAR. |
Submitted by Mark
at 7/18/2008 6:45:37 PM| >>> I'm confused by this: are they saying that, as soon as the man was paroled, he was immediately placed as a parish priest? <<<
Tramel was released from prison on March 12, 2006. He immediately began serving as assistant pastor of Church of the Good Shepherd in Berkeley, California. (source) On July 1, 2006 he became interim rector of St. Alban's Chuch in Albany California. The following February he was installed as rector or Trinity. (source)
Still confused? |
Submitted by Whitestone
at 7/18/2008 6:52:34 PM| Don't forget the 'other parade' (well, that also might be called a 'gay' pride parade too, when you think about it...) in which Boomer and Older Bishops will evangelize London...some of which I wouldn't open the door. I wouldn't let them near my grandchilren.
Get's to be a waste of good money have 'bishops' are so useless in the real Christain priesthood way of speaking. VGR's sermons are more politicking and recruitment than preaching...and his apologetics are more propaganda than anything else. May the Lord have mercy and shine His face into the darkness of these people's souls, grant them repentance. My only spiritual progress comes through repentance. |
Submitted by Allen Lewis
at 7/18/2008 7:15:00 PM| I am with obituary, this lady needs a good lawyer. The Diocese of California can make all the assertions it wants to, but the management of this case was irresponsible at best and criminally negligent, at worst. The Diocese should be sued for a substantial sum. This mismanagement is gross stupidity and cynical manipulation. In the meantime, who is ministering to this fallen angel named Tramel? Now that he is not useful as a poster boy, I guess TEC is going to kick him to the curb? What cynical bastards these people have become! |
Submitted by FrMichael
at 7/18/2008 7:52:12 PM| How did he complete seminary while in prison? What did this guy have on the previous bishop that caused his hasty ordination? |
Submitted by Fuinseoig
at 7/18/2008 8:22:00 PM| Mark, in under a year they put him in charge of a parish? Were they that strapped for clergy? I have some sympathy for the guy, as he clearly was not given any meaningful support. He took advantage of a vulnerable woman, but I don't get the impression he was very stable himself. Now, maybe he was a plausible, smooth-talking manipulator, or maybe he was stressed trying to make a life outside of prison - I understand he got married while in jail, so how did that work out? was his marriage still intact at the time? - who was put in a position he should never have been let near. Any way you slice it, the bishop can't just wash his hands of the matter. If the local bishop is supposed to be keeping an eagle eye on the clergy and laity to make sure they don't waltz off with the hassocks and hymnals left by previous generations of Episcopalians for the benefit of future Episcopalians, he certainly is responsible for the clergy under him. |
Submitted by Duane
at 7/18/2008 8:47:51 PM| on a cynical note, the money they have to spend defending the expected lawsuit - and settlement - means less money to go after conservative parishes. |
Submitted by Peter C.
at 7/18/2008 9:07:32 PMOn the contrary, Duane, they'll go harder after conservative parishes so that they can seize and sell the real estate for the cash they'll need for the eventual settlement. |
Submitted by Richard
at 7/19/2008 12:48:53 AM| Fr. Tramel was ordained when Bishop Swing was still in charge of the Diocese of California. The ritual took place at Grace Cathedral, and, if memory serves correctly, the Eucharist was marked by the use, not of conventional elements, but by grape juice and crackers obtained from vending machines at the San Francisco jail. |
Submitted by Katherine
at 7/19/2008 4:26:14 AM| Fuinseoig, it's possible I'm wrong, since I don't know the man, but the "plausible, smooth-talking manipulator" is a possibility here. His wife is -- wait for it -- a female priest who was on the prison ministry team, according to a report somewhere (don't have a link offhand). I think the diocese is grossly culpable in not placing him in an assistant's position for some years until he established a track record of good behavior. I don't think he should have been ordained at all until he was out of prison and established such a track record for a sustained time period. And yeah. If they own all the parishes, as they are claiming in court vs. several parishes and the entire San Joaquin diocese, then they also own the liability. sounds like they're trying to have it both ways. |
Submitted by Matthew
at 7/19/2008 6:44:34 AM| The Episcopal Church owns all the property except when they don't. The Diocese owns all the property the Episcopal Church does not own, exept when they don't. The local parish owns all the the property the Episcopal Church and the diocese do not own except when they don't. The priest owns everything else. I hope that clears things up. |
Submitted by Gator
at 7/19/2008 9:47:04 AM| And.....just guess who the Interim Rector is at Trinity--the oldest Episcopal church on the Pacific coast and mother church of California / guess / / http://www.sftrinity.org/html/who.htm / / / / / / / The Rt. Rev. Otis Charles--the very first "openly homosexual bishop in TEC." |
Submitted by Gator
at 7/19/2008 9:48:57 AM| ...So much for suspense. I forgot to put in the line break dealies. |
Submitted by Jeffersonian_
at 7/19/2008 6:39:22 PM| There's a straight priest in Andrus' diocese? How the hell did that happen? |
Submitted by Peyton
at 7/20/2008 9:03:49 PM| "Behold the Lord High Executioner", from Gilbert and Sullivan "The Mikado": Chorus: Behold the Lord High Executioner A personage of noble rank and title A dignified and potent officer, Whose functions are particularly vital! Defer, defer, To the Lord High Executioner! Defer, defer, To the noble Lord, to the noble Lord, To the Lord High Executioner! Ko-Ko: Taken from the county jail By a set of curious chances; Liberated then on bail, On my own recognizances; Wafted by a favouring gale As one sometimes is in trances, To a height that few can scale, Save by long and weary dances; Surely, never had a male Under such like circumstances So adventurous a tale, Which may rank with most romances. Churus: Taken from etc. |
It's a very sad story all round, and I imagine that the man in question needed support which he obviously wasn't getting. But the weaseling of the diocese about this - not good. If the bishop isn't where the buck stops in the diocese, then all the fulminating about the Nicean Council and tradition and 'no border crossing' is revealed as a heap of hot air.