Bird on a Wire

The Enchanted Forest formally known as Mundelein Seminary might just find itself under civil and ecclesiastical investigation

Spaulding, whose blood-alcohol level was double the legal limit, could be indicted on a second count of reckless homicide after a grand jury is convened, said Suzanne Willett, chief of the traffic division for the Lake County state's attorney's office.

So an Apostolic Visitation and a grand jury.... That could cause some tumult.

Apparently, I'm told that the initial $500,000 bond to get the sems out of their initial lock-up was kicked down to a cool $50K. The seminarians are being kept in house arrest on the grounds of the Mundelein complex.

Between the "time trials" and questions about discipline, lax background checks, etc., some scrutiny stands to befall the rector of America's largest seminary, Fr. John Canary, who has served in the post since 1995.

The history of Mundelein rectors has yielded a significant number of bishops. The last three rectors were Thomas Murphy, the late archbishop of Seattle, Jim Keleher, the retired archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas, and Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson.

Whether Canary can withstand the increasing firestorm and meet the expectation of history is an open question. One Chicagoan long familiar with the man called "The Bird" doubts it:

"Poor John. He just lost his purple hat...."

-30-