Two Chicago priests were just arrested in South Florida for lewd and lascivious behavior as well as indecent exposure.
To put it bluntly, they were giving each other oral sex in a volkswagen bug in broad daylight on a busy street.
They hail from the bloody city of Chicago, but they are originally from Colombia.
Here’s more from CBS 4 Miami:
Two Chicago-area priests were charged Monday with Lewd and Lascivious behavior and Indecent Exposure after being caught performing a sexual act inside a car parked on a Miami Beach street.
According to Miami Beach Police, 39-year-old Diego Berrio and 30-year-old Edwin Giraldo Cortez were in the front seat of a car performing oral sex.
Police got a 911 call about a lewd and lascivious incident taking place in the 1300 block of Ocean Drive.
When officers arrived, the police report states, the two were performing sex acts on each other “in full view of the public passing by on Ocean Drive and the sidewalk.”
It was 3:20 in the afternoon.
“Yesterday, we received a call indicating that two men were performing a sex act inside of a car. This is in broad daylight, 13th Street and Ocean Drive. There are no tints on the window,” explained Miami Beach Police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez.
When police arrived, it was still going on.
Police said Berrio and GiraldoCortez were so engaged, they didn’t even notice that police were there.
“We observed the two males performing the sex act, the officer had to tap on the window to get their attention,” said Rodriguez.
Both men were placed under arrest without incident.
The arrest reports state both men are priests from Arlington Heights, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago.
The address they gave comes back to the Mission San Juan Diego Parish in Arlington Heights.
Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
Can you imagine that if these priests had not been caught by police, they’d still be holding daily masses before their congregations.
UGH! UGH! UGH!
The Archdiocese has responded:
Late Tuesday, the Archdiocese of Chicago released a statement regarding the two priests.
“We were informed this morning that Rev. Diego Berrio, pastor of Misión San Juan Diego in Arlington Heights, Ill., and Rev. Edwin Giraldo Cortes, an extern priest from Soacha, Colombia who served at St. Aloysius Parish in Chicago for one month, August 1 to August 31, 2018, were arrested in Miami on September 3, 2018.
“Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, has removed Fr. Berrio from ministry and withdrawn his faculties to minister in the Archdiocese of Chicago, effective immediately. The archdiocese will appoint an administrator for the Misión San Juan Diego as soon as possible.
“Archdiocese representatives have been in contact with Fr. Cortes’ home diocese of Soacha, Colombia and informed them that Fr. Cortes will not be granted additional faculties to minister in the Archdiocese of Chicago.
“It is our responsibility to ensure those who serve our people are fit for ministry. We take this matter very seriously and will provide updates as they become available.”
I know that a Bishop only controls their respective dioceses, but what we really need is an international list accessible to all dioceses in order to prevent these priests from working anywhere else. They need to be publicly defrocked and put on that list and cast out of the leadership of the church. Period.
This cancer in the Catholic church of homosexuality must be purged. It’s not just about abuse or pedophilia. Much of what’s happened in the past, abuse and all, stems from homosexuality.
Either we believe in the teachings of the Church or we don’t. It’s really that simple.