"Abuser" priest will become Independent Catholic bishop

From The Milwaukee Channel:

A former Roman Catholic priest suspended for abusing a child will soon become a bishop.

Joseph Collova was suspended after a man said the priest abused him dozens of times at a Milwaukee church.

After the suspension, Collova changed denominations and now works with the Independent Catholic Church in Dousman, which is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.


The Dousman church plans to ordain Collova as a bishop in April.

This is just horrible. Derivative Catholic Churches like the Independent Catholic Church, Old Catholic Church and Polish National Catholic Church provide a spiritual home for some who aren't comfortable in the mainline Catholic Church, and they serve the global Church by providing alternative images of what the Church could be. But the main problem with these splinter churches, both as spiritual communities and as agents of social change, is that with disconnect from a greater community comes a lack of accountability and perspective. What better demonstration of that than this Independent church shuttling someone accused of a serious crime right back into ministry? While it's possible they've investigated the charges and deemed them false, it seems unlikely, among other things, that the Milwaukee diocese would have shared the information they might have on this priest with an outside church.

By appearing cavalier about abuse and about the function of the greater Church community to correct wrongdoing within it, the Independent Catholic Church in Dousman reflects terribly poorly on those who present voices of challenge within the global Catholic Church.