Two Catholic priests in Ohio have practically kidnapped a baby from its parents and are trying to legally adopt him because the parents can't afford lawyers
Quote:A piece of the Steubenville family has been missing for over a year now — a 2-year-old boy who is in the temporary legal custody of two priests at the nearby St. Peter Catholic Church in the midst of an unusual and ongoing court battle for custodial rights.
The case — which began after the Pauleys sought assistance from the church to care for their son — has had a profound impact on all sides involved.
For their part, the priests — Father Timothy Huffman, the pastor of St. Peter, and Father Bradley Greer, chancellor of the Steubenville diocese and a vicar at St. Peter — claimed in court when filing for custody in December 2022 that it was in the best interest of the child to stay with them.
Meanwhile, the case has dragged on for more than 18 months.
Allegations made by Father Huffman and Father Greer in their court filings include claims that the couple watered down the baby’s formula and fed him cantaloupe and chocolate, and that Ms. Pauley “has referred to the child as a ‘little bastard’ and ‘spawn of Satan.’”
In court records, the priests also said they had spent at least $1,400 at Walmart and Walgreens on groceries and other items for the couple, and said the child was in the rectory under their care an average of four to five nights a week between the end of July and November 2022.
A judge granted temporary custody to the priests about two weeks later, specifying the child would live in the church rectory during the duration of the case.
It’s been more than a year and a half since, and the drama continues to play out in court.
Neither the Steubenville police nor the Jefferson County Department of Job and Family Services has substantiated any of the claims made in the priest's legal filings, according to court documents and JCDJFS documents.
Instead, the Jefferson County Department of Job and Family Services, which administers children services in the area, cleared the couple of having safety threats in their home and even lauded the couple as having “many strengths” in a letter from the agency dated November 2023.
The couple, who say they cannot afford an attorney, have represented themselves in court and said they plan to keep fighting for custody of the boy in what they claim is a case of religious leaders overstepping when they should have been helping.
“It's disgusting what they’ve done,” Ms. Pauley said. “It’s a disgrace to the Bible. It’s a disgrace that the bishop or anyone else would accept this … nobody warned us about these guys.”
https://www.post-gazette.com/news/faith-...2408110082
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
