To the editor:

This letter addresses the lead article entitled “Baldwin City priest suspended…” in the Sept. 12 Journal-World. Interesting and factual article, but I would have written it very differently. My version would have acknowledged that the local Catholic dioceses, in an abundance of caution, had restricted the ministry of a local priest based on an unverified claim that he was accessing inappropriate material on the internet. Additionally, I would have emphasized that the dioceses had requested that the FBI investigate the matter to determine if a crime had been committed.

Note in my version I did not demean someone based on an unconfirmed claim of activity that is totally legal. I further note that on Page 3 there was an article about an actual charge for human trafficking. I am not a journalist, but it would seem that the attention focused on a Catholic priest just might have been a bit overdone given the status of the investigation.