Father Carl Sutphin Arrested

[Ayodhya Nath Bhat]

Father Carl Sutphin Arrested
April 5, 2003 Ventura County Star  
 
URL: http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/county_news/ar...1866845,00.html  
Priest who served in county arrested
By Leslie Parrilla, lparrilla@insidevc.com
April 5, 2003

A Catholic priest was arrested in Ventura on Friday on allegations that he molested four local children in their bedrooms during confession and on fishing trips in the family trailer.  

The Rev. Carl Sutphin, who worked in Oxnard and Camarillo, was taken into custody by Ventura Police Department officers at a relative's house, Deputy District Attorney Douglas Ridley said.  

Sutphin, 70, was booked at Ventura County Jail on 10 counts of child molestation and is being held on $500,000 bail. He is expected to be arraigned Tuesday. If convicted for the Ventura County charges, Sutphin faces up to 17 years in state prison.  

The molestations allegedly occurred in the 1970s while Sutphin was a priest at St. Mary Magdalen Church in Camarillo, from 1971 to 1975, and a chaplain at St. John's Hospital in Oxnard, from 1975 to 1991, Ridley said.  

The victims were between ages 9 and 12 at the time. Two of them were brothers from Oxnard.  

"He took trips with the kids alone," Ridley said. "He was close with the families."  

Ridley would not elaborate on the circumstances of the molestations or the victims.  

Some of the victims no longer live in Ventura County. They all reported Sutphin to authorities within the past year.  

Don Steier, who represents Sutphin, said his client plans to plead not guilty to the charges. He said he couldn't comment on the charges until he had more information, but he was enraged at the bail.  

"I think the bail is simply outrageous," Steier said. "He (Sutphin) has a 96-year-old mother he cares for. ... He is about as much of a flight risk as (District Attorney) Greg Totten."  

The $500,000 bail was initially set at $100,000, but a judge raised it after reviewing the charges, a jail official said.  

Sutphin was an associate pastor at St. Vibiana's Cathedral in 1995 in Los Angeles and moved to the new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels when it opened. He retired in 2002. Since then, he has been taking care of his mother in Ventura, Steier said. A sex-abuse case filed against Sutphin in April 2002 alleges that he molested two boys while serving at a parish in Maywood.  

If convicted for the Ventura County charges, Sutphin faces up to 17 years in state prison
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[tklein1014]

Just my $.02...

I view monsters such as these as the modern-day equivilant of Judas.  It is nothing new in the church, Judas was the first, and I don't believe he was the last.  I don't believe the problem lies with Celebacy, but rather an active homosexual lifestyle, since the vast majority of victims have been boys.  I'm probably going to get in trouble with the PC police for that, but that's what I think.  Let's say priests were allowed to marry.  I don't think that would be a solution to the problem, as a molester is a molester.  There are married & unmarried molesters.  If you're sick, you're sick.  Being married isn't going to change that.  Perhaps these people are spiritually lacking if they feel the need to be fulfilled in such ways.  I suggest we pray for a change-of-heart for anyone who does these things, priest, bishop, cardinal, other religious, or layperson.

Tina

[Seeker]

Let me point out that these despicable acts not only break their vows of celibacy, but also their baptismal vows and the vows they took to minister to Christ's Church.  They are truly Judases.  If Judas betrayed Jesus whom Jesus chose Himself, we should not be surprised that there are Judases among us, even today.   Believe it or not, the Church has been through worse times.

Let's also not forget all the truly holy priests out there in the trenches that are not only faithful to their vows but save soul after soul everyday[/color] yet don't make the news.

[Melody]

I agree with Tina that people like these are sick in the head.

I've known a couple of priests who many years down the line have been tempted with women & succumbed. They lost the spiritual annointing of Celibacy & did what they thought was the right thing - they left the priesthood.

Yet if we look at their case against Sutphin's there is a Great difference. Both broke their vows, true. But Sutphin also did something morally wrong & something that completely & totally violated so many individuals & prob. also their families. God only knows how many souls have turned completely away from God because of His acts.

It's really, as Tina pointed out, a molestor's mentality, as opposed to just a Celibate being tempted.

That there are molestors within the Church is a scary & horrible though. Like everything else, I'm going to take it up in prayer.

Melody

[DavidFilmer]

This is an old thread, but it seems timely to me, as I live in the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon, which has just recently made headlines by becoming the first (and currently the only) diocese to file for bankruptcy as a result of the fallout from priestly scandals. Most of the lawsuits which have driven the diocese to this desparate act arise from the actions of a single priest, Fr. Maurice Garamond (sp?)

And, again, I hear new cries to end priestly celebacy to stop this abuse.

The association between child molestation and celebacy is silly. ANYONE, priest or otherwise, who preys on little children like this is SICK - mentally disordered. Letting a sick person marry won't cure his sickness.

If a priest wants to break his vows of celebacy, there are PLENTY of adult women who would be willing to assist (or, if the priest prefers, plenty of men). Ask ANY priest and he'll tell you that this is a great temptation - women hit on priests all the time.

If a priest wans to break his vows, he doesn't need to molest small children to do it.  Celebacy has nothing to do with these perversions.

[Seeker]

David,

You are exactly right.  Celibacy has nothing to do with child molestation.  If anything, celibacy is an obstacle to such evil.  That's why it's silly to call for an end to priestly celibacy as a "cure" for child molestation.