Story Archive

Loss of Fidelity

A woman in St. Louis, Mo., called police at 10:15 p.m. to say she saw a man looking in her window. Sure enough, when officers arrived they found a man hiding in the bushes outside her home. He ran when he saw the police, but he was captured — and identified as Michael McCusker, 36, a co-worker of the victim who “has a history of inappropriate and offensive communication toward victim, who has lodged complaints with her employer.” The employer: Saint Louis Priory School, a Catholic school for grade 7-12 boys — Fr. McCusker is a priest and theology teacher there, and a Benedictine monk at the abbey next door. Or, at least, he was: the school announced he has been “removed” from his position there, and kicked out of his campus housing. McCusker is charged with stalking, and resisting arrest. (RC/St. Louis Post Dispatch) ...“When he is to be received, he comes before the whole community in the oratory and promises stability, fidelity to monastic life, and obedience. This is done in the presence of God and his saints.” —Rule of St. Benedict 58:17 18a