"The Quality of Mercy is not Strained:" The Butler Case & Fr. William Aitcheson

The Reagans visited the Butlers in 1982
after reading about their ordeal.

After months of silence, there is finally word about my former pastor Fr. William Aitcheson who stepped down from his position at St. Leo's after being publicly exposed for his KKK activities 40 years ago.  Crux News reported today that Father sent a handwritten letter of apology dated September 8th (Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Mother) including financial restitution to Barbara and Phillip Butler. He expressed his heartfelt regret for the harm he caused the couple by burning a cross on their lawn in 1977. [Read previous posts about Fr. Aitcheson here and here]

The diocese issued a statement following a press conference the Butlers and their attorney held on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th. The Butlers refused to meet personally with Fr. Aitcheson and initially refused even to accept Fr. Aitcheson's letter of apology and his check for restitution.  The Butlers later reconsidered and took the money ($23,000 in restitution and $9600 in lawyers' fees which Father is paying from his personal funds and through a loan), but the couple have publicly stated they don't know what it will take before they can forgive him.

Detraction is a Sin against Justice

When in doubt, shut your mouth!

I wonder how many people today ever give a thought to the sin of detraction. I've been thinking about it ever since I read Maria Santos Beir's article unnecessarily revealing the past sins of Fr. William Aitcheson, her childhood pastor, when he was a member of the KKK forty years ago. I tweeted Maria about her article and got this reply:

I never got the sense from your newsletter that you were opposed to exposing fellow Catholic sinners.

Ah, nothing like trying to change the subject to deflect attention from yourself.

"Et Tu, Brute?": Maria Santos Bier and her Detraction against Fr. Bill Aitcheson

"Et tu, Brute?" The most unkindest
cut of all comes from a "friend" who
recalls you fondly.

For the past few days I've been reading all the online material in the saga of my friend and former pastor, Fr. William Aitcheson which began with an article by Maria Santos Bier, How I discovered my childhood priest was in the Ku Klux Klan. Maria assures us that Fr. Bill always treated her kindly and that "I recall him fondly." Well, that's a relief! It was she who unnecessarily exposed Father's sins of forty years ago, of which he's clearly repented. I can only imagine what she would have written if she thought of him un-fondly. This is surely Fr. Aitcheson's "Et tu, Brute?" moment.

For a person to do what Maria did is a serious sin of detraction. For a Catholic to do it is unconscionable; but maybe Maria has never heard of detraction. (Detraction is publicly revealing the sins of a person, not commonly known, that destroys his good name.)

You can almost feel Maria's excitement over her "scoop" as she tells the reader about discovering the juicy information. Googling Fr. Bill's name, she found a 1977 article about a college student in the KKK and recognized Father by the accompanying photo. Then Maria tells us: