Black Collar Market

Very sad and very unfortunate. I don't know Illinois State law specifically but I do know in many places that certain paraphernalia can trigger a drug charge to rise from possession to distribution because it can show intent (like having scales and packaging materials.) I hope the priest wasn't actually dealing from the church though. How very sad him and his parish.

Also, it makes you wonder what led to the search? Perhaps there were some undercover buys? The more I think about it the more I'm horrified.

I don't see a joke anywhere.

As one of the most judgmental readers of this blog... I think we might cut the padre just this much slack: he's presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Perhaps there is some exculpatory circumstance which we don't know about.

There seems to be a lack of prudential judgment. Now, whether it's on the part of the priest or the readership, time will tell.

It's especially sad because he has besmirched the name of the Illinois Newman Center which has been regularly cited as just about the best one in the country.

Adeodatus (nice name, BTW) is right on, in that being a priest today is one of the most dangerous professions to hold, given the cultural and political atmosphere.

Maybe someone confessed and handed it to him after confessing. It would have been difficult for him to hand it over to authorities afterward without telling where he got it. Is a priest even allowed to say "I received it anonymously during a confession" or is he prohibited from saying even that much? At least I hope this is the case.

I graduated from UofI and lived at St. John's Newman Center for my four years. It really is an exceptionally strong Newman center. Very orthodox. Please pray for Father and all the students at the center.

A friend of mine who was involved in drug use once told me that a lot of users end up becoming dealers simply to support their habit.

Helen: a lot depends on circumstances. The basic rule is that you cannot reveal or force someone to reveal himself, be it by word or action, any act or information gained in the confessional, period. As a priest, I also categorically refuse to accept ANY illicit goods or monies, and generally tell the penitent to dispose of those goods in whatever way does not risk them to exposure. There is a great danger in "accepting" things from penitents -- the sacrament gets psychologically tied to "buying" forgiveness, or it may enter into someone's mind that the Church is taking advantage by "forcing" people to give their (illicit) goods to the Church. Other priests may do different, but that's how I was taught, and it seems prudent to me.

If I had accepted drugs and paraphenelia from a penitent, and the police stopped me outside, I would think I'm pretty much pleading the fifth and hope I have a good lawyer.

This incident should be a reminder for us to pray for our priests and pastors. Serving the Lord in such a public manner makes them high value targets of the Evil One.

Whatever way you want to cut it he was in possession of illegal narcotics. The police don't randomly search citizens hoping to score a jackpot. "Hey lets search that priest's residence!" That doesn't happen. The information this was there made it to them probably through busting other users who gave up info on their supplier in hopes of a lighter sentence. If undercover officers or confidential informants made planned buys from him this is even worse. Mistakes can be made but that's still very rare and there's a lot of checks and balances in place to minimize them.

Nobody wants to hear this priest was innocently in possession through some bizarre circumstance but life and experience tell me this is bad, very bad for the priest and his community. I'm very sad about this and hope he gets the rehab he very likely needs. Not only does he need our prayers but this has to be devastating for his flock.

I graduated from UofI too and attribute my love for the faith to the newman center. I came across this article which doesn't help the matter much. Particularly pray for the priests and staff because they just opened a brand new facility a week ago.
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2008/09/12/priest_pleads_innocent_informants_testimony_led_to_arrest

URBANA – A Catholic priest assigned to the Newman Center on the University of Illinois campus has been selling and using cocaine with regularity for several months, court documents allege.

The Rev. Christopher Layden, 33, wearing a suicide-risk reduction gown during his video arraignment from the jail Thursday, pleaded innocent to two counts of delivery of less than 1 gram of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a church and a separate count of possession with intent to deliver 1 to 15 grams of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a church. The proximity to a church makes it a more serious crime.
Advertisement

Layden's attorney, Mark Lipton of Champaign, waived Layden's right to a probable cause hearing. Judge Richard Klaus set a pretrial hearing for Oct. 21, after advising Layden that conviction of the possession with intent to deliver cocaine charge carries a mandatory prison sentence of six to 30 years, while conviction on the delivery charges carries a mandatory prison term of four to 15 years.

Klaus set bond at $50,000 for Layden, who posted $5,000 cash two hours later and was released from jail.

An informant working with the UI police officers investigating Layden told a Champaign County judge Wednesday that he has known Layden since 2007 and used cocaine with him "40 to 50 times" in the last seven months in Layden's office in the Newman Center, 604 E. Armory Ave., C, and in Layden's residence in the rectory across the street at 1007 S. Sixth St., C.

The informant spelled out for Judge Harry Clem his relationship and contacts with Layden in order for police to obtain search warrants for Layden's office and residence. Clem issued those warrants Wednesday, and UI police investigators searched the office and residence and collected several items of evidence, including about 3 grams of powder cocaine, Interim UI Police Chief Jeff Christensen said.

The Rev. Christopher Layden

Based on what the informant told police, they were looking for cocaine and other paraphernalia such as scales, cutting agents, cash in proximity to drugs, and containers such as safes or lock boxes.

Police, in the complaint for the search warrant, said their informant met with them Sept. 3 and gave "an extremely detailed taped statement about the ongoing problem of a priest at the Newman Center Catholic Church distributing cocaine from the offices and the rectory. He identified him as Father Layden."

The complaint said the informant had a drug-related arrest in May 2008 and has been working with police since then and that police have found his information reliable.

The informant told police that he and Layden snorted lines of cocaine off a framed picture of Layden posing with a Catholic bishop.

Layden, who studied in Rome, was ordained a priest for the diocese of Peoria in 2001, according to the Newman Center's Web site.

Calls to the Newman Center were referred to Patricia Gibson, chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria. She issued a statement Thursday that said Bishop Daniel Jenky was "shocked and saddened" by Layden's arrest and that Layden has been suspended from all pastoral ministry.

"Never at any time prior to Father Layden's arrest did the Diocese or the Newman Center have any suspicion of problems concerning drug use on the part of Father Layden. The Bishop is praying for the entire Newman community at the University of Illinois and for all of those affected by the scourge of drug addiction," the statement said.

The informant had told police that Layden stored as much as 1½ ounces of cocaine in a locked safe inside a closet in his residence in the rectory. The informant said that in the past eight months, he had been in Layden's residence "40 to 50 times" and the last time he saw cocaine there was Sunday.

The informant said that on seven occasions between February and May of this year, he went with Layden to Chicago to buy cocaine. He said Layden provided him with an average of $800 per purchase which he used to buy the cocaine, then handed it over to Layden.

The court documents also allege that UI police saw Layden at a home in the 300 block of West Beardsley Avenue in Champaign on Sept. 3 and that Layden told the informant he was using crack cocaine with a man there.

First Assistant State's Attorney Steve Ziegler said in court Thursday that the UI police monitored a cocaine purchase by the informant from Layden on Sept. 4. That alleged transaction occurred in a garage at the Newman Center after Layden obtained drugs from his car, according to Ziegler.

Police also monitored the informant in a Sept. 9 purchase of cocaine from Layden. On that day, Ziegler said, the informant met Layden at the Newman Center to arrange a buy. Layden then drove to another location in Urbana where police believe he picked up the drugs, then returned to the Newman Center. He then sent a text message to the informant saying the drugs were ready for delivery.

Lipton requested bond be set at $25,000 because Layden had no criminal history. The attorney said Layden studied in Rome for five years.

In a 2005 interview with The News-Gazette, Layden said he had a casual acquaintance with Pope Benedict XVI, with whom he took walks around Rome.

Even though Layden appeared with a private attorney, he filled out an affidavit of assets, a form usually reserved for defendants requesting a public defender. The document said he earns $1,600 a month and has $20,000 in a bank account but owes $28,000 for his car and has $8,000 in credit card debt.

In Layden's hometown of Hoopeston, people who knew him said they were shocked by his arrest.

"That's something you would not expect to hear," said Carrie Ramsey, who attended Hoopeston schools with Layden and was two years behind him. In high school, "he was very quiet. He kind of kept to himself."

Most people who knew Layden and his family declined to comment.

However, longtime friend Notosha Savage said, "I think he's just a great person." She said she and Layden still keep in touch through Facebook.

As a former student at the Newman Center and a church member for several years until we moved recently, I can say that this church is very traditional and very much seeks to follow the Church's truths. I must credit my conversion to the excellent priests and faculty at the Newman Center. This priest was relatively new, so I didn't know him. He is NOT the head priest, only an associate.

There is no evidence yet that he was selling to students, according to police reports. Newman just finished a huge renovation project and built a fabulous new residence hall; the grand opening was last weekend, and we were so glad to be able to go "home" to visit for it. It's sad that this terrible story came out at the tail end of the celebrations. Why did the place known by many nationwide as "Catholic Disneyland" end up with this tragic story on their hands? I hope this priest gets the help he needs and that the Newman Center's good name is not tainted by this terrible event.

The dealing charge is probably due to IL law regarding proximity to schools/parks. Champaign-Urbana exploits the law by having lots of "parks" that just are flowers on the corner of an intersection.

That said, I don't know the priest or "witness" or their reputations. But as Chesterton remarked, only a good thing is capable of being corrupted. I pray the "witness" is found to be a perjurer, and the father a victim of poor judgment.