Milwaukee Archdiocese Suspends Priest After Catholic Site Says He’s In A Long-Term Relationship With A Man

Milwaukee’s Fox affiliate reports:

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee put a high-ranking priest on administrative leave, as it launched a formal investigation that centers on an allegation of a consensual relationship.

Fr. Mark Payne serves in the senior Archdiocese of Milwaukee position of judicial vicar. He has also been pastor of two North Shore parishes since 2022: St. Eugene in Fox Point and St. Monica in Whitefish Bay. In addition, he is chaplain of the national TV Mass produced by Wisconsin-based Heart of the Nation.

City of Milwaukee property records, reviewed by FOX6 News, showed the priest and the other man co-owned a duplex near the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It showed they bought the two-bedroom, two-bathroom home in 2003 for $245,000.

Last week the Catholic site The Pillar wrote:

While Pope Francis has urged diocesan bishops to take more seriously the canonical discipline of clerics, the outgoing chairman of the U.S. bishops’ canonical affairs committee has not taken steps to address canonically reports of public cohabitation by a senior-ranking official in his archdiocese.

A spokesperson for Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee told The Pillar that the archdiocese has “spoken with” judicial vicar Fr. Mark Payne, who hired as a parish schoolteacher last year a layperson with whom he had maintained a public romantic relationship.

Social media postings reviewed by The Pillar recounted their vacations together — including one with “another couple” — their commemoration of holidays, their efforts to redecorate their condo, and posting photos of the pair at Pride events and gay bars and clubs, both in Milwaukee and in other parts of the world.

It appears that the archdiocese was willing to ignore the priest’s relationship until The Pillar published its post.

Archdiocese of Milwaukee puts priest on leave, launches investigation https://t.co/CmzWJ92pNl

— FOX6 News (@fox6now) December 5, 2023

Archbishop Jerome Listecki “spoke with” a priest accused of misconduct.

But did he follow Pope Francis’ canonical norms?https://t.co/SClGqEmdyn

— The Pillar (@PillarCatholic) November 30, 2023

The post Milwaukee Archdiocese Suspends Priest After Catholic Site Says He’s In A Long-Term Relationship With A Man appeared first on Joe.My.God..