The Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge has settled a case involving the former Bishop Joseph Sullivan and Glenn Hymel of Houston, Tx. The Diocese paid out $225,000.00 to Mr. Hymel in the settlement.  Mr. Hymel alleges that he was abused by Bishop Sullivan from 1978 to 1982 while at a seminary for minors hoping to enter the priesthood. Mr. Hymel transferred to a seminary in Corpus Christi, Texas after the Baton Rouge seminary closed, but that the Bishop visited him there often, where the abuse allegedly continued.  He also alleges that he accompanied the Bishop out of town on several occasions at which time he was also abused.

Based on the allegations by Mr. Hymel, he has now received almost a quarter of a million dollars from the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge. Oh, I may have forgotten to mention that Bishop Sullivan died in 1982. Yes, that is correct, someone made allegations against someone who has been deceased for 17 years and received a payoff because of these allegations. Now don’t get me wrong, I am very sympathetic towards Mr. Hymel if he was indeed the victim of any abuse. However, I cannot honestly believe that someone can lodge such a severe complaint against someone who has been dead for 17 years and actually be paid compensation for what allegedly happened! What kind of door is this opening for fraudulent claims? Even after you die your name could still be tarnished, even if you are a man of the cloth? What is this world coming too? Poor Bishop Sullivan, once remembered for all the good he did for the Diocese of Baton Rouge is now, basically, a convicted sex offender without even having a chance to defend himself from these allegations? They even yanked his name from a High School named after him here in Baton Rouge based on this. Where is the justice for the former Bishop Sullivan here?  Has anyone even entertained the thought that Mr. Hymel made this up? I can think of 225 thousand good reasons he may have had to formulate these allegations. Maybe he did and maybe he didnt, but the wheels of justice are based on the premise that everyone has their fair say in an accusation against them. This is a disgrace to the Catholic Diocese and a huge injustice. I sincerely hope no one else hits the lottery by making accusations against any deceased persons. Even moreso, I really hope an influx of ‘abused’ people don’t start surfacing and accusing deceased individuals of wrongdoings.

Mr. Hymel, I apologize for whatever you went through or whatever you are still going through, however, you sued the Catholic Diocese for (allegedly) failing to protect you from the Bishop at the time of this. I sincerely believe that they had no role in this nor did they have a ‘duty’ to protect you from something they knew nothing about. Had they known about this while the alleged abuser was still alive, then perhaps he would have had to suffer the consequences. Instead, a deceased man, who can have no say so in this, lies there a convicted sex offender and basically a disgrace based on your accusations.  Unless there was a video or a written statement given by Bishop Sullivan prior to his death, to me, these are still accusations and warrant no action whatsoever.

RIP Bishop Joseph Sullivan