Father Jean-Michael Lastiri, or Father Mike as he is known, has been removed indefinitely from the Merced parish he worked so hard to build — leaving parishioners there hurt and upset that their spiritual leader and friend is being disciplined by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno.
St. Patrick’s parishioner Tony Lua says Father Lastiri is a great priest, “Your hear stuff, but I’m nobody to judge. I don’t judge anybody, and like I said, as far as what he taught us and showed us in the church, we never had no complaints. He’s a great man, he’s a great priest.”
The popular and well-liked priest will be leaving next month for St. Luke’s Institute, where he will receive psychological and spiritual therapy for what his superiors are calling compulsive and addictive behavior.
For months, the watchdog group “The Roman Catholic Faithful” had complained to Bishop John Steinbock that some of Lastiri’s parishioners knew he was using web sites and chat rooms to solicit relationships with men.
Okay, then back to poor Scranton and the case of Fr. Liberatore, which we first discussed here.
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