It was supposed to be a silent memorial to remember Sister Margaret Ann Pahl on the anniversary of her murder, but the priest at St. Hedwig's Catholic Church called the police on parishioner Mike Drabik.
You can read the story I wrote that ran in Saturday's paper for the full story but here's basically what happened:
Mike Drabik has been an outspoken critic of Bishop Leonard Blair's handling of the sexual abuse crisis and the Father Robinson case, including blasting the diocese last fall after St. Hedwig's ran an announcement in the church bulletin for a chicken dinner fund-raiser for Robinson. It was fine if they wanted to sell chicken dinners to pay the killer priest's legal bills, Drabik said, but don't use the official church bulletin to do so.
He is one of the few Catholics in Toledo taking a stand and reminding Church members who remain loyal to Robinson that they should not forget the victim -- who was, after all, a Catholic nun.
Drabik stood in front of St. Hedwig's before a 7 p.m. Maundy Thursday Mass -- a Mass that honors the Last Supper, ironically enough -- and passed out small flyers asking people to remember Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, victim of ritual abuse killed on April 5, 1980.
But Drabik did not seek permission ahead of time from the pastor, Father Marek Ciesla. Father Marek, as he is known by parishioners, told Drabik to stop passing out the literature, and asked him if he instead would come inside and pray. He said several people had complained to him about the flyers.
Drabik refused to stop and Father Marek said he had no choice but to call police. Drabik told him it would be a waste of time, he was leaving in a few minutes -- at 7 p.m. when the Mass began. But police were called at 6:55 and a crew arrived at 7:10. Sure enough, Drabik was gone. According to Drabik, however, the priest told him: "I know where you live." He was afraid the cops would knock on his door and arrest him at his home. Fortunately for all concerned, that didn't happen.
It really would not have hurt a soul if Father Marek had let Drabik pass out the flyers -- quietly, as he said he was doing. Instead it wound up on the front of the local news pages.
To be honest, since Drabik was not arrested and there was no disruptive "scene" at St. Hedwig's, this was not a big news story. Anyone who watches the media knows, however, there are days when even a small story gets coverage. It's all relative to the day's events. This happened to come on a slow news day and editors were eager for an article.
Be that as it may, Father Marek did in fact call police on a parishioner who was trying to pay tribute to a Catholic nun, who was murdered by a priest. The parishioner's silent protest should not have become a police matter. The fact that it did makes it just one more little embarrassment and an unnecessary public relations faux pas for a church that doesn't need more bad press.
Toledo, Ohio,
April 9, 2007