Rod sometimes mentions his early days on AOL, experiencing the Catholic message boards there, and how contentious the whole scene was. I was around then too, intially thinking, “how great is this! Catholics from around the world conversing…” only to discover what Rod did…it took about a day for any single conversation to degenerate into total acrimony and chaos.

Some of the most heated discussions I recall, before I gave up and moved on, centered on the case of Fr. Ken Roberts, for a while a very popular speaker and author who was accused (although I don’t recall if he was ever charged) of various sexual improprieties and at some point either in the late 90’s or early..what..00’s (!) went into seclusion. Where was he? What did he do? Was he guilty? Surely not!

For a while, it seemed, that is all the AOL Catholic message boards were about.

Well, he’s back in the news, as three bishops toss around legal culpability

All three are named in a lawsuit filed in November by John Doe. The suit alleges that the Rev. Kenneth Roberts, now retired, sexually abused Doe at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Belleville in 1984.

The St. Louis Archdiocese and the Dallas Diocese have responded by asserting that St. Clair County Court has no jurisdiction over them because they do not do business there. St. Louis also says Roberts was never assigned or employed here, although he was allowed to live in three parishes in Florissant and was permitted to conduct some religious services here.