Stonington police have arrested the pastor of an Episcopal church accusing him of hosting a graduation party that resulted in two girls getting sick on alcohol.
The Rev. Mark Robinson of Calvary Episcopal Church was arrested Monday on charges stemming from a party at his home Sunday night.
[blockquote]Police said that when they arrived, [b]many of the 30 or more youths who were present at the party[/b] fled into the woods behind the Robinson home.[/blockquote]
Besides the obvious….where is this guy’s common sense? What would have been his end means to allowing teeangers in his home to get drunk? I don’t want to even give it more thought for fear of the answer!
It’ll be interesting to see how the Diocese of Connecticut handles this latest scandal.
2. Cennydd wrote: “It’ll be interesting to see how the Diocese of Connecticut handles this latest scandal.”
Don’t hold your breath – Robinson was on the Standing Committee for the Diocese of CT when Bp. Smith seized St. John’s in Bristol, Connecticut.
To say that the laws prohibit underage drinking requires a wooden, literalist, dare I say fundamentalist reading of the law. These persons were obviously over 21 in their emotional maturity and, when it comes to alcohol, isn’t emotional maturity more important that physical maturity? (/reappraiser)
Even if this guy were the staunchest reasserter in the Diocese of Dallas, I am sure that the Bishop would throw the book at him for this type of conduct. I hope that +Smith of Connecticut suspends him and then deposes him or that the priest resigns his orders to save +Smith the trouble.
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
Well this is the sort of priest they are left with after running off the faithful ones…this is like a light shinning in the darkness to reveal the true bankruptcy of TEC…I couldn’t be more pleased as long as no one was hurt…other than the continual hurt done by leading people astray on this and every other level…
I blame the lack of women and married men in the priesthood for this scandal.
Once Connecticut permits same sex marriages, stuff like this will never happen
[i] Please don’t take this thread off topic by comments such as #6 and #7. [/i]
Unfortunately this sort of thing occurs in my suburban neighborhood at least once a year. (Rich) Daddy and Mommy think it would be good socially for junior (or juniorette) to have “sophisticated” parties with their well-connected friends. You know, so later their Daddies will help junior (or juniorette) get into Harvard and invite them to other sophisticated parties where they can meet well-connected potential spouses. Only the police raid the place and it all ends up in the paper. Not a prom season goes by without this happening.
I blame this problem on a married clergy. 🙂
#5: Well this is the sort of priest they are left with after running off the faithful ones…”
I think it was G.K. Chesterton who once said, “No generalization is worth a damn. . .including this one!” I consider myself a faithful priest in The Episcopal Church. Having said that, the priest in question should be appropriately diciplined by his bishop. I’m pretty sure I know what would happen in my diocese! It’s an appalling lack of judgment by any adult, let alone one in a position of trust, to make alcohol available to minors. I don’t know the whole story of course. Maybe there were even parents there who didn’t effectively monitor the kids’ behavior. In any case, I believe Jesus would say to pray for the priest in question that he will learn to use wiser judgment in the future, regardless of what happens to him professionally.
Married clergy or no married clergy that is not the blame. The blame is our parents today no matter their profession want to cater to their children and give them all they want. Try putting the blame on over indulgent parents whatever their collar type is …blue, white, or clerical!
Sorry elves. The Devil made me do it.
At the risk of getting this thread off topic again, we assume our high school graduates have responsibility to vote and to serve our country in the military, and yet somehow lack the responsibility to have a lousy beer. Lower the drinking age to 18 if you ask me.
I agree with OneDayCloser. We have created a society–peculiarly American I think–in which children who have not learned the difference between needs and wants grow up to become adults with a sense of entitlement and a blurred perception of ethical conduct. The mantra seems to be, [i] “I see it. I want it. I need it. I need it now.”[/i] I struggle with my 13 year-old boy all the time about this. God, give me the wisdom and patience to guide him.
ODC — I know. I think VP and I were joking. (Well…I was. :))
I’m sure the Rev could do a lot of good work behind the walls of the local penitentiary, which is where he belongs.
#16 Mike L,
Now there’s a field for evangelism ripe for the harvest!
Steven in Falls Church wrote: Lower the drinking age to 18 if you ask me.
I say: No raise the voting age to 21!!!
Some of the comments were obviously jokes. But some I have not been sure of. This is not a reasserter/reappraiser issue. I see no causal link between theology of the diocese and irresponsibility on the part of the priest in question.
I am sure we could come up with an entirely unedifying list of reasserters who have not lived up to our call as well. “All have sinned…”
In issues such as this I would have full confidence in any bishop and diocese to deal with the situation appropriately, regardless of whatever diocesan office the alledged offender has held.
This is an unfortunate, but helpful, reminder to all who wear the collar to remember Who we represent, and that our foibles are by nature more newsworthy and apt to bring shame upon our church and our Lord.
Folks, I cannot believe how upset everybody has gotten over this. Other than the fact that allowing underaged persons to consume alcohol is illegal, I see nothing wrong here.
Remember, wherever there are 4 Episcopalians, there is always a fifth. Heck, one of my Bible Study Leaders (who was and is extremely orthodox) told us to carry our Bibles in brown paper sacks and that nobody would think they were Bibles since we were Episcopalians.
As much as I support the re-asserters (I am one-GRIN) and the new Orthodox groupings in North America and around the world. I just hope that we don’t become Puritanical or forget that we are not “holiness” folks.
One of my happiest memories of Easter Vigil was getting “blasted” and being hungover on Easter. We were celebrating the Resurrection of the Lord. That certainly deserves a Party!!
It is a very different thing for parents to do something like described by #9 as a way to deal with teenage drinking–doing things like having a party and collecting car keys—it is something else for a priest to display such moral ambiguity…but you see that is what they are doing in Connecticut…instead of holding the line of God’s intentions for sexuality, they are leading the charge for moral flexibility…I always thought the mission of the church was to hold its finger in the moral dike, lest the trickle of misbehavior become a flood and society drowns in the aftermath…
I hear that his defense is that it was simply a Eucharist 😉
There is a lot we do not know here — was one of the teens his child? Was this the youth group of the parish? (I doubt it; few reappraising youth groups would be that large…) Is the priest married?
This could be a stupid dad who happens to be a priest. Or it might be something less understandable.
[i]I blame this problem on a married clergy.[/i]
Sorry, one of our local Catholic priests pulled a stunt like this a few years back with the graduating class of our Catholic high school no less. But along with #19, I would note there’s no reason to blame theology for what raw stupidity explains quite adequately.
“We assume our high school graduates have responsibility to vote and to serve our country in the military, and yet somehow lack the responsibility to have a lousy beer. Lower the drinking age to 18 if you ask me” —Steven in Falls Church [#13]
I agree. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), having won some of their major points, hyped this issue. Legislators went along—perhaps all too glad to tighten the screws on a small group that votes infrequently instead of demanding consistently stricter enforcement against the much larger group of over 21 folk who drink, drive, and vote.
That doesn’t excuse holding a mass-illegality party, though.
PS: I support stern and unflinchingly consistent enforcement of laws against drunk driving, just as I support strong, consistent law-enforcement to uphold public order.
“I see no causal link between theology of the diocese and irresponsibility on the part of the priest in question”
Maybe not, but it’s sure ironic to see part of Bp. Smith’s canonical-fundamentalist lynch mob showing his respect for the law.
Great leadership among the Connecticut Yankees. So, why aren’t the churches filling up?
When my child was in high school some parents did this sort of thing. They took car keys, provided a keg, and allegedly kept the kids at their houses all night. Their defense was, “It’s only alcohol. At least it’s not drugs.” But the problem here is more than a parent with bad judgment (which is obvious). Here we have a priest who is purposefully breaking the law and endangering persons too young to drink. As laity, these are the sort of standards we are having to deal with in TEC clergy. I recently led a search for a new rector of a large church. The quality of TEC clergy, based on the resumes received, is appalling in their lack of life experiences, their lack of abilities at critical thinking, and their down right ignorance of human nature and society in general. It is truly sad.
“Why aren’t the churches filling up?”
Perhaps “Bottoms up!” with the booze doesn’t correlate with bottoms down in the pews.
I believe the Diocese needs to come down hard on this since there is a violation of the presence of non-sacramental alcohol at an apparent “church-sponsored” event (most safe-guarding God’s children policies state this is inexcusable). This should be seen as a violation of his position of trust, as well. This was really, really stupid.
Frankly, I always thought that instead of lowering the age of majority to 18, they should simply have raised the age of the draft to 21. (Allowing 18-21 year olds to join the military with consent of their parents as volunteers if desired, they way they let 17 year olds in now).
What I see is that parents are all too quick to abdicate responsibility for their teenagers (often beginning at around 14) because they are “practically an adult now). When they turn 18, they are often left to fend for themselves.
I hope that the girl was ok. It could have been worse: at a local party, the kids got so scared of the cops they didn’t call an ambulance and a boy died.
I don’t think we know all the details. He could have simply had alcohol in the house and let his kids throw a big party, trusting his kids. I don’t think he thought kids would enjoy the freedom as they did. Bad judgment, perhaps. Illegal, sure. Does this indicate orthodoxy or not?
I will have to admit that reasserters clearly have permission to cast stones.
I wonder if anyone in England, where the drinking age is, I believe, 19, and other parts of Europe where alcohol is a dinner beverage from an early age, could chime in and state if their country has problems with teen drinking? It would be interesting to see if the problems exist in these countries where the drinking age is lower than in the U.S., since the topic was brought up.
That said, I remember when I was in college, before the drinking age was raised to 21, that the local Episcopal Campus Ministry would have ‘wine and cheese parties’ every Friday night as part of their campus ministry program. As far as I know, we didn’t have anyone leave really drunk. A bit tipsy, maybe, but not drunk.
Jim Elliott <><
Wine was a common beverage among the O.T and first century Jews…and it was always cut with water; depending upon which rabbi one followed that was 1 part wine to two parts water or 1 part wine to three parts water. Drunkeness was forbidden by Mosaic law and to become publicly drunk was a social disgrace. To my mind, it still is.
Underage drinking is dangerous for a number of reasons, one being that the critical reasoning parts of the brain are not developed until about age 25. Young folks are generally confused about appropriate behavior and no mature, thinking adult would knowingly add to that confusion by providing alcohol to a minor. Critical thinking is adversely affected anytime someone gets a “buzz”…it is gone when one is “drunk”, no matter how much fun that one thinks he/she may be having.
My son fought the bars in his neighborhood in Lawrence, Kanses because they served alcoholic beverages to minors. Nothing was done until a very drunk seventeen year old girl who was on her hands and knees crawling across the street in front of his apartment building was run over and killed by an equally drunk seventeen year old boy. Then the police and the state took notice, closed down the bars and enforced the underage drinking laws. The girl need not have died if the (supposedly) adults in her community had taken the responsibility to obey the laws.
#13 & #19 — many states did have 18 as the drinking age. The trouble was that many HS seniors are 18 a good bit of their senior year, and think nothing of supplying alcohol to their younger classmates (and fellow students not yet seniors). That made for a lot of drinking in HS, and a lot of bad accidents.
With a drinking age of 21, most of those who will supply alcohol to those younger are not providing drinks to HS students, but to college students or co-workers, all of whom are older and a little bit more able to drink with some sanity. (I do wonder about that of course — the main purpose of many drinkers is to get blasted, it seems.) It is just as wrong, but the effects are not quite as harmful.
I have the good fortune to not be able to stomach alcohol…don’t like it, don’t like being sick from a teaspoon of it. When I attended my 50th H.S. reunion a few years back, only a couple of my classmates who had been moderate to heavy drinkers in H.S. were still alive. The two who showed up were not in good health. Think where you want to be when you are 67/68 years old.
I am surprised to note that nobody has commented on the fact that is very different for an Episcopal (or Anglican) priest to provide alcohol than it would be for say a Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist etc minister. Alcohol is not considered “taboo” in the Episcopal/Anglican World. The word is not “Whiskypalian” for nothing!!
The fact that we are comfortable with being “whiskypalians” and “whenever two or more or gathered there is always at fifth” bothers me a lot. Alcoholism is a great problem and young brains should not be exposed to alcohol. When adults supply it to teens at parties they are flirting with danger. College age drinking is one of the major problems on college campuses.
#38 I agree. Being cavalier about this is, in my opinion, wrong.
I’m not in England, but in Scotland, alcohol can be bought in many pubs and shops at the age of 18. Some pubs have a policy of only serving people over the age of 21, as they find that younger drinkers tend to get out of control. We have a huge problem with under-age drinking – The number of under-18s in alcohol treatment programmes has soared by 40 per cent, from 4,781 in 2006 to 6,707 in 2007. The findings reveal the highest increases have been among 12- to 14-year-olds, up 62 per cent from 592 to 953.
Meanwhile, thousands of youngsters continue to be admitted to hospital each year for serious illnesses usually expected in ageing alcoholics: children aged 16 or under hospitalised due to drink have risen by a third in the past decade – from 3,870 in 1995/6 to 5,281 in 2005/6
(Figures from http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/children–alcohol-britains-deadly-cocktail-744875.html
Anecdotally, parts of continental Europe seems to have a better track record on this, especially in places like France, where drinking wine with meals is encouraged from a young age and children learn that a little wine for the stomach can be a joy, rather than binge-ing on the stuff, with all the destruction that can bring.
Steven #13 and Irenaeus #25, I used to advocate this argument too, especially when I was between the ages of 18-20. 🙂
But this begs the issue of adolescent brain development and mounting evidence that alcohol has [url=http://www.duke.edu/~amwhite/Adolescence/] adverse effects [/url]on said population’s developing brains. I realize 21 is a rather arbitrary line of demarcation to determine an appropriate, legal drinking age, and of course we can always find exceptions to the rule, but by 21 at least most kids’ brains are developed. It seems to me that’s a good thing. Blessings.
One thing overlooked in all this is the odd pathway by which Americans arrive at alcohol being “forbidden fruit.” In much of the southern and central European tradition, as well as Quebec (where I lived for 13 years), alcohol — especially wine — is a normal and low-key component of family meals, including young children.
If alcohol were not forbidden fruit, most youth would long since have developped a healthy attitude about it and most of the above discussion would be moot.
Perhaps the most logical approach of all is to lower the legal drinking age to something like 10, whilst raising the legal driving age to 18. Even sober 16-year-olds are a hazard on the road, as both statistics and insurance rates well demonstrate.
It’s far easier to control under-age driving than under-age drinking, and the key thing (as I see it) is to create a significant separation between age of legal drinking and age of legal driving.
Critics beware. Throw a party for your teenager and those one or two jerks sneek in alcohol late in the party after you are sure everything is going smoothly. Things can go bad fast. Lots of parents won’t allow parties at their homes just because of this problem. If you think you are immune, watchout. 20 years from now your wonderful kid will tell you what really went on at their party. And you will not believe it because you were there.
So is this the youth group or what? For the love of Pete.
#13 Steve – Our state (Iowa) tried that little test. When the drinking age was 21 – the 18 year olds could buy booze if they had a phony id showing they were 12, because they could “pass” for 21 in looks. We lowered the age to 18 when the nation went to voters of that age. Guess what, the 16 year olds could look 18 with fake ids, The 18 year olds could vote and drink, but they still needed a chit to get out of study hall. Iowa wised up and raised the age for booze back to 21……..not kidding, it did cause a problem….
Actually, I don’t think this is a reappraiser/reasserter issue. In my post above, I was poking fun at the reappraiser logic of “well, I know what the law (scriptures, canons, etc.) says, but what it really means is…. In other words we know that the canons on deposing a bishop for abandonment of communion says that the bishop must be inhibited first and that a majority of the whole number of bishops is required to approve the deposition, but what it really means is…. We know that scripture says that homosexual sex is wrong everywhere it is mentioned, but what it really means is…. We know that the Anglican Communion has maintained the teaching of the universal church in saying that homosexual sex is not in accord with scripture and cannot be blessed, but what it really means is….
Orthodoxy is not a guarantee of orthopraxis. I’ve known several orthorodox priests who were tripped up with sexual sins or monetary sins. We all need to be on guard when it comes to behavior.
I believe that the clerical collar is a red flag to the devil and that he will aim more temptations your way if you wear one. Striking the shepherd(s) (or sheepdogs) is a great way to scatter the sheep and be able to pick them off one by one.
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
Well…here’s a long-time priest, who’s been in this parish for a good while, and with a wife and kids to help support, or perhaps completely support. Now he’ll be infamous, and possibly unemployable. I don’t know how it happened, whether he really did supply alcohol to those teens, or if he was even present. Bad judgment? Trying to be hip? Clueless as to what was really going on? Who knows? But two things come to mind…he’s innocent until proven guilty, and he and his family could probably use our prayers.