David Ancell / Saturday January 04, 2003
I see that Bishop Houck has left office in Mississippi. I will believe that this is because of age. I must say that Jackson, Mississippi would be a hard diocese to run just because of its geographic size. Do note that the alleged abuse occurred years before Houck was even an auxillary bishop in Jackson. He became reigning bishop in 1984 but had been the auxillary of the diocese since 1979. According to the Diocese, one of the accused priests had left the priesthood before Bishop Houck would have become involved with the diocese.
I remember Bishop Houck from my college days at Ole Miss. Leaders of the parish would joke about his “three homilies.” He was a very easy going personality. However, he took some time at the end of a Mass he said at St. John’s Church in Oxford (where Ole Miss is located) to preach briefly against drunkeness and fornication. I was also involved in the group from which he gathered information for the pastoral letter on ministry for young adults for the U.S. Bishops (I’ve never read the letter and do not know what good it did, but that’s another story. If anyone knows where I can get it, please do tell.).
On another note, I hope that the plaintiffs in the sexual abuse suit don’t win $75 million. When I left Mississippi, the Jackson diocese wasn’t even totally self-supporting. This would devestate the Church down there.
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