Report: New Orleans Saints Conspired With Catholic Church To Protect Pedophile Priests

January 24, 2020 By Michael Stone

Religion poisons everything: Evidence shows that executives from the NFL’s New Orleans Saints football team conspired with the Catholic church to protect pedophile priests.

ESPN reports:

The New Orleans Saints are going to court to keep the public from seeing hundreds of emails that allegedly show team executives doing public relations damage control for the area’s Roman Catholic archdiocese to help it contain the fallout from a burgeoning sexual abuse crisis.

CBS Sports reports:

Multiple members of the New Orleans Saints executive team assisted the Catholic Church with its “messaging” in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the area’s churches in recent months, according to an Associated Press report.

EXCLUSIVE: The New Orleans @Saints are going to court to keep secret hundreds of emails that allegedly show team executives doing public relations damage control for the area’s Roman Catholic archdiocese amid its sexual abuse crisis. https://t.co/6i0DjcmYX4

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 24, 2020

The new report from the Associated Press notes:

Attorneys for about two dozen men suing the church say in court filings that the 276 documents they obtained through discovery show that the NFL team, whose owner is devoutly Catholic, aided the Archdiocese of New Orleans in its “pattern and practice of concealing its crimes.”

Attorneys for those suing the church wrote in a court filing:

Obviously, the Saints should not be in the business of assisting the Archdiocese, and the Saints’ public relations team is not in the business of managing the public relations of criminals engaged in pedophilia. The Saints realize that if the documents at issue are made public, this professional sports organization also will be smearing itself.

In an attempt at damage control after the explosive revelations, the New Orleans Saints released a statement denying that they assisted the church in protecting pedophile priests, claiming “that they only advised the church to be open and transparent about sexual abuse allegations,” while also admitting:

The New Orleans Saints organization has always had a very strong relationship with the Archdiocese.

And, in fact, the Saints team is deeply entwined with the Catholic church, as the team owner, Gayle Benson, is devoutly Catholic and has a “close friendship” with New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

Bottom line: Evidence shows that executives from the NFL’s New Orleans Saints football team conspired with the Catholic church to protect pedophile priests by assisting the church in its “pattern and practice of concealing its crimes.”

Report: New Orleans Saints Conspired With Catholic Church To Protect Pedophile Priests (Image via YouTube)

Teen Kills Pedophile Priest Who Abused Him By Ramming Crucifix Down Priest’s Throat

December 27, 2019 By Michael Stone

Rough Justice: A teen in France kills a pedophile priest who sexually abused him by ramming a crucifix down the priest’s throat.

The Tablet reports:

The murder of an elderly priest last month has slowly brought to light a sordid story of the priest’s sexual abuse of the suspected killer and his father…

Fr Roger Matassoli, 91, was found dead on 4 November at his home near Beauvais, choked by a crucifix stuffed down his throat. There were also multiple blows to his body.

…

Both Church and civil authorities knew about Matassoli’s abuse but their inquiries never led anywhere. The bishop (Bishop Jacques Benoit-Gonnin of Beauvais diocese) failed to explain why.

Daily Mail reports:

A 19-year-old man has been arrested for killing a suspected paedophile priest by ramming a crucifix down his throat and suffocating him.

Alexandre V., who is alleged to have been abused by the priest, attacked the 91-year-old Catholic Roger Matassoli while working at the holy figure’s home in Agnetz, Oise, northern France.

Alexandre, whose full name has not been published, was arrested while he tried to escape in the father’s car and charged with torture, murder and resisting arrest.

The Sun reports:

Catholic priest Roger Matassoli was found dead with a crucifix rammed down his throat and signs of torture on his corpse after being accused of sexually abusing at least four boys over four decades – between 1960 and 2000.

However, he is alleged to have abused dozens of young victims.

According to reports, Father Roger Matassoli had sexually abused multiple children, yet was never punished for his crimes, despite the fact that the church hierarchy and the local civil authorities knew of the priest’s despicable deeds.

The suspect in the priest’s murder, identified only as Alexandre V., attacked the 91-year-old Catholic priest at his home near Beauvais, France. He has been charged with torture, murder, and resisting arrest, and “has been held in hospital because he appeared delirious” after his arrest.

As for Father Matassoli, before his death he was accused of abusing the suspected killer and his father, as well as several other boys from 1960-2000.

Bottom line: After being sexually abused by Father Roger Matassoli, a 19-year-old teen kills the pedophile priest by ramming a crucifix down his throat and suffocating him.

Teen Kills Pedophile Priest Who Abused Him By Ramming Crucifix Down Priest’s Throat (Image via Screen Grab)

Report: Bishop Selected By Pope To Investigate Sexual Abuse Molested Altar Boy

November 15, 2019 By Michael Stone

Because of course he did: Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, the man selected by Pope Francis to investigate clerical sexual abuse in New York, repeatedly sexually assaulted an 11-year-old altar boy in Jersey City in the 1970s.

The New York Post reports:

The head of the Brooklyn Diocese — whom the pope named to investigate allegations of clergy sex abuse upstate — has now been accused of the same crimes.

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio repeatedly molested Mark Matzek, now 56, when Matzek was an altar boy at St. Nicholas Church and a student at St. Nicholas School in Jersey City between approximately 1974 and 1975…

The New York Times reports:

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, who was recently chosen to lead an inquiry into clergy abuse in Buffalo, faces an accusation of molesting an altar boy in Jersey City in the 1970s.

Mitchell Garabedian, lawyer for Bishop DiMarzio’s victim, said:

It is time for the police to investigate the investigator, Bishop DiMarzio. The investigation should include questioning Pope Francis about his appointment of the bishop as an investigator. Pope Francis and the Vatican should understand that truth will triumph over evil.

For his part, Bishop DiMarzio denies he did anything wrong.

The story is sad, yet not surprising. We have known for decades that the Catholic Church is protecting and enabling pedophile priests. We have also known for decades that the church has made considerable efforts to deny the charges, always trying to deny and push accusations under the rug, often by re-victimizing the children raped and sexually abused by priests in the first place.

Yet despite overwhelming evidence that the Catholic Church is a profoundly and irredeemably morally corrupt institution that allows children to be treated as disposable sex toys for predatory priests, Catholics continue to support the church. In so doing, Catholics fund the cover-up, and make the continuing rape and sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy possible.

In short, supporting the Catholic Church means supporting the rape and sexual abuse of children. And that means that every practicing Catholic is complicit in the rape and sexual abuse of children by predatory priests.

Bottom line: Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, the man selected by Pope Francis to investigate clerical sexual abuse in New York, sexually abused an 11-year-old altar boy multiple times while serving as a priest in Jersey City.

Report: Bishop Selected By Pope To Investigate Sexual Abuse Molested Alter Boy (Image via Screen Grab)

Pope Francis Mandates Sex Abuse Be Reported To Church, Not State

May 10, 2019 By Michael Stone

Moral failure: Pope Francis issues new church law that sexual abuse must be reported to church officials, but not the police, not the state, not the secular authorities.

The BBC reports:

Pope Francis has made it mandatory for Roman Catholic clergy to report cases of clerical sexual abuse and cover-ups to the Church.

Many in the mainstream media are praising the new law as “groundbreaking.” And to be fair, it is a slight improvement. Previously church officials were not mandated to report sexual abuse, or suspected sexual abuse, to anyone. The new church law changes that. The BBC notes:

For the first time, clerics and other Church officials will be obliged to disclose any allegations they may have heard. Previously, this had been left to each individual’s discretion.

Yet the new law mandates that reports be made to church superiors, not the police, not the state, not the secular authorities. Reporting on the story The Guardian notes:

However, the church law does not require police to be notified. The Vatican has said that different countries’ legal systems make a universal reporting law impossible, and that imposing one could endanger the church in places where Catholics are a persecuted minority.

Writing for Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta finds that the new laws for reporting abuse “don’t go far enough” noting:

There’s no rule requiring priests to report the allegations to law enforcement officials.

There’s no penalty for Church leaders who don’t follow the rules.

There’s no rule about financial reparations for victims.

If an abuser confesses his crimes to a priest in a confessional booth, it’s still considered sacred, secret information.

Peter Isely, a survivor of sexual abuse and one of the founding members of Ending Clergy Abuse, explains the obvious problem with the Pope’s new law:

Bishops reporting to themselves, that’s been the problem from the beginning. All they did was add another layer of bureaucracy; this doesn’t require civil authorities. What we need are police and prosecutors.

Isley added:

This isn’t just about letting us down. It’s about leaving children at risk. Around the world, right now, kids are at risk of being hurt. The church fails survivors over and over again – they make promises it’ll get better, and then those promises are broken.

Zach Hiner, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), echoes the concern that the new law does not require police to be notified. Hiner said:

If the church was truly listening to the pulse of the public and of survivors, they would know that they should be mandating priests and nuns report everything to outside, secular authorities.

I get the argument that in some places of the world Catholics are discriminated against. However, for most of the world, that’s not the case. In most of the world we have police and prosecutors who care about local communities and want to keep them safe, and that’s who we charge to get to the bottom of things like this.

Indeed, we have known for decades that the Catholic Church has been protecting and enabling pedophile priests. We have also known for decades that the church has made considerable efforts to deny the charges, always trying to deny and push accusations under the rug, often by re-victimizing the children raped and sexually abused by priests in the first place.

Yet despite overwhelming evidence that the Catholic Church is a profoundly and irredeemably morally corrupt institution that allows children to be treated as disposable sex toys for predatory clergy, Catholics continue to support the church. In so doing Catholics fund the cover-up, and make the continuing rape and sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy possible.

Bottom line: By not requiring the police or other secular authorities to be notified, Pope Francis continues to enable the rape and sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy.

And so it goes.

Pope Francis Mandates Sex Abuse Be Reported To Church, Not State (Image via Shutterstock)

West Virginia Sues Catholic Church Because They ‘Knowingly Employed Pedophiles’

March 20, 2019 By Michael Stone

Good news: The West Virginia attorney general has filed suit against a Catholic diocese, alleging that it knowingly employed pedophiles.

NBC News reports:

The West Virginia attorney general filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming that a local Roman Catholic diocese and former bishop failed to protect children from predator priests and teachers — and violated consumer protection laws by not alerting parents there were abusers on the payroll.

Reporting on the story, The New York Times notes:

The civil suit is notable for its unusual approach: It accuses church leaders of violating a consumer protection law, a statute that is more commonly applied to companies, not religious institutions.

…

The West Virginia approach alleges that the diocese and bishop “knowingly employed pedophiles” at Catholic schools and camps but did not disclose to parents the “danger” of sending their children to these programs, which advertised safe environments. The suit also says that church officials did not conduct adequate background checks for employees of Catholic schools and camps.

In a statement to The Hill concerning the lawsuit, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said:

Parents who pay and entrust the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese and its schools to educate and care for their children deserve full transparency.

Our investigation reveals a serious need for the Diocese to enact policy changes that will better protect children, just as this lawsuit demonstrates our resolve to pursue every avenue to effectuate change as no one is above the law.

In a phone interview with The New York Times Attorney General Morrisey said:

We believe that every parent who paid tuition for a service that falls under consumer protection laws deserves to know the schools their children are attending are safe. The church itself advertised that these children would be in a safe environment.

Commenting on the lawsuit, The Hill explains:

The civil complaint alleges that the diocese and former Bishop Michael J. Bransfield did not conduct adequate background checks and sometimes hired staff who admitted to sexually abusing children.

The suit alleges that Father Patrick Condron admitted to sexually abusing a student, was sent to treatment and then got assigned to a local elementary school. Parents were not notified that the school “was employing a pedophile,” the lawsuit states.

Several cases similar to Condrons are detailed in the suit.

Bottom line: Claiming that “no one is above the law,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has filed a lawsuit against a local Roman Catholic diocese because they “knowingly employed pedophiles.”

West Virginia Sues Catholic Church Because They ‘Knowingly Employed Pedophiles’

Report: Thousands Of Migrant Children Being Sexually Abused While In U.S. Custody

February 27, 2019 By Michael Stone

Thousands of migrant children separated from their families at the border are being sexually abused while being held in government administered shelters.

The shelters are privately run but contracted by the government. Many of the shelters are run by faith-based organizations, like Bethany Christian Services, a Christian adoption agency with ties to the family of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

According to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) documents thousands of migrant children suffered sexual abuse while in government custody over the past four years. Axios reports:

From October 2014 to July 2018, the HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement received 4,556 complaints, and the Department of Justice received 1,303 complaints. This includes 178 allegations of sexual abuse by adult staff.

The HHS documents were released Tuesday by Florida Democratic Rep. Ted Deutch.

CBS News reports:

According to the documents, over a thousand allegations of sexual abuse against unaccompanied minors in HHS custody were reported to federal authorities each fiscal year since 2015. In total, between October 2014 and July 2018, 4,556 sexual abuse complaints were reported to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) — an agency within HHS in charge of caring for unaccompanied migrant minors.

According to Rep. Deutch, the documents were included in HHS’ response to a House Judiciary Committee request for information made in January. Concerning the damning documents Deutch told Axios:

This behavior — it’s despicable, it’s disgusting, and this is just the start of questions that HHS is going to have to answer about how they handle these and what’s happening in these facilities.

NPR reports that “the shelters are privately run under contracts with the government.” In addition, it is important to note that those shelters are often run by faith-based groups.

Progressive Secular Humanist previously reported that many of the migrant children ruthlessly separated from their family by the Trump administration are being shipped to Bethany Christian Services, a Christian adoption agency with ties to the family of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

In addition to Bethany Christian Services, at least two other faith-based agencies have sheltered or are currently caring for migrant children separated from their families by the Trump administration: Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and Catholic Charities. Crux reports:

The service, which is sometimes called “short-term” or “transitional” foster care, is being offered by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which has helped the United States Office of Refugee Resettlement with placing foster children for 15 years, as well as Catholic Charities, which works under the purview of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Earlier this year the Trump administration said it could not reunite missing migrant children with their families because “it would require too much effort to reunite migrant children with their parents.”

Bottom line: Thousands of migrant children separated from their families are being sexually abused while being held in shelters run by faith-based groups like the DeVos connected Bethany Christian Services.

Report: Thousands Of Migrant Children Being Sexually Abused While In U.S. Custody (Image via Twitter)

Top Vatican Official Investigating Sex Abuse Resigns After Being Accused Of Sex Abuse

January 31, 2019 By Michael Stone

Another creepy priest: A top Vatican official in charge of investigating sex abuse in the Catholic Church has resigned from the position after being accused of sexual abuse himself.

The Washington Post reports:

A Vatican official who handles sexual abuse cases for the Catholic Church has quit two months after being accused of sexual abuse.

On Monday, Hermann Geissler resigned from his position as chief of staff in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a body that handles discipline in sexual abuse cases within the Catholic Church, according to a statement from the Holy See’s press office.

According to the report, Father Geissler is accused of sexually harassing women while they were in confession. One victim, former nun Doris Wagner, explained her experience with the abusive priest while she was in confession:

He would keep me there kneeling in front of him for hours, and he would tell me how much he liked me and that he knew that I liked him and even though we couldn’t marry, there would be other ways. At some point, he would try to hold me and kiss me, and I simply panicked and ran out of the room.

The National Catholic Reporter notes that even though Father Geissler’s deplorable behavior was exposed in 2014, the creepy priest was only forced to resign earlier this week:

In a brief NCR interview Jan. 21, Wagner said she had reported Geissler’s conduct to the doctrinal congregation in 2014 with the help of a canon lawyer.

“I got a response that stated that Fr. Geissler had admitted, and had asked pardon, and was admonished,” she said. “And that was all.”

The National Catholic Reporter also notes:

Solicitation in the confessional is generally considered very serious by the Catholic Church, which teaches that confession is a sacred opportunity for faithful to obtain forgiveness for sins and reconcile with God.

A priest propositioning someone in the confessional is considered so serious that is labeled by the Vatican as a “grave delict,” and judgment on such matters is reserved to the doctrinal congregation.

The Code of Canon Law prescribes that a priest found guilty of solicitation “be punished, according to the gravity of the delict, by suspension, prohibitions, and privations.” It specifies: “In graver cases he is to be dismissed from the clerical state.”

No doubt the Catholic Church also has rules against raping children as well…

Bottom line: Father Herman Geissler, a top Vatican official in charge of sex abuse investigations, resigns from his position after being caught soliciting sex from women during confession.

Top Vatican Official Investigating Sex Abuse Resigns After Being Accused Of Sex Abuse (Image via Screen Gab)

Report: Catholic Church Knew Priests Were Raping Nuns In India For Decades

January 7, 2019 By Michael Stone

Catholic priests have been raping nuns in India for decades, and despite knowing of the crime, Church authorities did nothing to protect the women or prosecute the rapists.

It is an old and tired story that must be reported over and over again: The Catholic Church is a global criminal organization that protects and enables rapists and pedophiles.

A new in-depth report from Associated Press details the horrific suffering endured by Catholic nuns in India who were raped and sexually abused by priests:

At its most grim, the nuns speak of repeated rapes, and of a Catholic hierarchy that did little to protect them.

The detailed report contains interviews with multiple nuns who have been sexually abused and raped by Catholic priests in India. In almost every case, the church did nothing to defend the victims or prosecute the rapists.

The stories are horrific. Drunk old priests waking young nuns in the dead of night and forcing themselves upon the women who have taken a vow of chastity. Nuns afraid to report their sexual assault for fear of being ostracized by the church and being blamed for being sexually assaulted by priests.

As one might imagine, the pain, the suffering, and the shame felt by the victimized nuns is immeasurable.

The report notes the history of the ongoing global crisis in the church before noting the current focus on India:

The Vatican has long been aware of nuns sexually abused by priests and bishops in Asia, Europe, South America and Africa, but it has done very little to stop it…

Now, the AP has investigated the situation in a single country — India — and uncovered a decades-long history of nuns enduring sexual abuse from within the church. Nuns described in detail the sexual pressure they endured from priests, and nearly two dozen other people — nuns, former nuns and priests, and others — said they had direct knowledge of such incidents.

Bottom line: A detailed report via the Associated Press catalogs a host of sexual crimes committed by Catholic priests against Catholic nuns, crimes the church actively hides and covers up, crimes for which nobody is held accountable.

Report: Catholic Church Knew Priests Were Raping Nuns In India For Decades (Image via Facebook)

Illinois Attorney General: Catholic Church Protecting At Least 500 Accused Priests

December 19, 2018 By Michael Stone

They’re still protecting pedophiles: Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan reports that the Catholic Church withheld the names of at Least 500 priests accused of sexual assault.

The New York Times reports:

A scathing report by the Illinois attorney general accused the Roman Catholic Church in the state of failing the victims of clergy sexual abuse by neglecting to investigate their allegations against priests and finding flimsy reasons to dismiss their claims.

The names of more than 500 priests who were accused of sexual abuse did not show up on lists of credibly accused clergy that have been released by the Illinois Catholic dioceses, according to the preliminary report from Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

CNN reports:

In yet another blow to the Catholic Church in the United States, Illinois’ attorney general says the state’s six dioceses have failed to disclose accusations of sexual abuse against at least 500 priests and clergy members.

The report is yet another bombshell revelation concerning the Catholic Church protecting and shielding pedophile priests and other clergy members suspected of sexual abuse. Earlier this year, a stunning grand jury report released by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found over 300 predator priests sexually abused over a 1,000 children in Pennsylvania.

That report released by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court detailed a “systematic” cover-up effort by church leaders going back more than 70 years. There is no reason to believe that the church leaders in Illinois behaved any different.

Earlier today Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan released preliminary findings of her ongoing investigation into the Catholic Church. So far “Madigan’s investigation has found that the dioceses have received allegations of sexual abuse of at least 500 additional priests and clergy members in Illinois” not reported by church officials.

In a statement concerning her investigation Madigan said:

Because I know that the Church has too often ignored survivors of clergy sexual assault, I want to share the initial findings from our work. While the findings are preliminary, they demonstrate the need for and importance of continuing this investigation.

Madigan notes that the Church “has failed in its moral obligation”:

By choosing not to thoroughly investigate allegations, the Catholic Church has failed in its moral obligation to provide survivors, parishioners and the public a complete and accurate accounting of all sexually inappropriate behavior involving priests in Illinois.

The failure to investigate also means that the Catholic Church has never made an effort to determine whether the conduct of the accused priests was ignored or covered up by superiors.

Madigan concludes that the Catholic Church cannot be trusted to police itself:

The preliminary stages of this investigation have already demonstrated that the Catholic Church cannot police itself. Allegations of sexual abuse of minors, even if they stem from conduct that occurred many years ago, cannot be treated as internal personnel matters.

Madigan is right. The Catholic Church cannot be trusted to police itself, and there is no doubt that the Church “has failed in its moral obligation.” Indeed, every state attorney general should follow Madigan’s lead and begin to investigate the criminal practices of the morally bankrupt Catholic Church.

Bottom line: The Catholic Church continues to protect and enable pedophile priests and other clergy members suspected of sexual misconduct, but Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is going to try and hold the criminals responsible for their deplorable crimes.

Illinois Attorney General Reports Catholic Church Protecting At Least 500 Accused Priests (Image via Twitter)

Catholic Pharmacist Refused To Fill Prescription For Woman Having Miscarriage

October 18, 2018 By Michael Stone

Claiming it would violate his religious beliefs, a male Catholic pharmacist refused to fill a prescription for a woman experiencing a miscarriage.

Detroit Free Press reports:

Rachel Peterson, 35, alleges a pharmacist at the Meijer store on Lears Road in Petoskey refused to fill her prescription for a drug called misoprostol (brand name Cytotec) in July because of his personal religious views. She says he also refused to transfer the prescription to another pharmacy

Peterson explained to the Detroit Free Press:

He said that he was a good Catholic male and that he couldn’t in good conscience give me this medication because it’s used for abortions, and he could not prescribe that. When I divulged to him that the fetus was no longer viable, and that … I needed to progress the situation further, he said, ‘Well, that’s your word and I don’t believe you,’ and he refused to fill it.

Describing her experience to the ACLU, Peterson said:

When you’re at one of the lowest moments of your life, you don’t expect this sort of demeaning treatment. A pharmacy should not be able to deny patients medication prescribed by their doctors based on the personal beliefs of a particular employee.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan has filed a complaint with Meijer on Peterson’s behalf, claiming what the pharmacist did was discriminatory and violated the state’s public accommodation laws.

The complaint asks Meijer to create policy requiring pharmacists to give patients their prescriptions, regardless of the pharmacists’ religious beliefs, and concludes thus:

We demand prompt action from Meijer. No one should have to endure humiliation and the inconvenience of driving six hours to receive time-sensitive vital medication. Not only must Mr. Kalkman be disciplined for treating Ms. Peterson cruelly, but Meijer must implement a policy to ensure that all customers in the future receive their medication without undue delay regardless of the personal beliefs of its pharmacists. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have further questions.

Merissa Kovach, a policy strategist for the ACLU of Michigan, said:

All women should be able to go to a Meijer Pharmacy to obtain the medicine they need without fear of discrimination. Our client clearly was a victim of sex discrimination. Had the customer been a man prescribed the same medication, that is also commonly used to treat ulcers, the pharmacist would have filled it.

Kovach told the Detroit Free Press:

I think it’s very clear in this case that had Rachel been a man seeking this exact same medication for stomach ulcers, she wouldn’t have been turned away for the same reason.So Rachel was denied this based on the personal beliefs of this pharmacist and then also because she’s a woman.

Unfortunately in Michigan, we don’t have an explicit state law that goes so far as to protect patients like Rachel. What we would hope is that Meijer and other pharmacies would agree that they’re allowed to accommodate the personal beliefs of their employees, but that accommodation cannot include permitting discriminatory denials of care that burden patients and customers.

Any customer should be able to expect the same service regardless of who they are and what their prescription is.

In a statement to CBS News, Meijer said:

A pharmacist may refuse to fill a prescription based upon religious beliefs. However, our procedure requires the prescription to then be filled by another pharmacist in the store. If no other pharmacist is available, the pharmacist must consult with the patient to arrange for the transfer of the prescription to another pharmacy that is convenient to them.

Meijer spokeswoman Christina Fecher didn’t say whether the pharmacist, identified as Richard Kalkman, has been disciplined.

Bottom line: Richard Kalkman, a smug and condescending pharmacist who identified himself as “a good Catholic male,” refused to fill a prescription for a woman experiencing a miscarriage, placing his prejudice and bias above the health and welfare of his patient. As such, he should be fired. No woman should have to worry when they go into a pharmacy that they might be turned away, humiliated, and abused by some pharmacist refusing to do his job.

*** * * * * * * UPDATE * * * * * * ***

Kalkman is no long employed by Meijer. In addition, Meijer has changed its policies. Associated Press reports:

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan says it has reached an agreement with Meijer on policy changes and training after a pharmacist at one of the retailer’s stores refused to fill a prescription to help an Ionia woman complete a miscarriage.

The ACLU said in a news release Thursday, March 28, that the Midwestern retailer’s new policies include requiring a second pharmacist to immediately fill a prescription if another pharmacist has a religious objection. Customers also are to receive prescriptions without knowing about a pharmacist’s objection.

Catholic Pharmacist Refused To Fill Prescription For Woman Having Miscarriage (Image of Peterson and spouse via ACLU)