You believe that Cathinfo is a court of law, which has the ability to convict someone of wrongdoing, even if we only have one side of the story?

January 27^th, 2021

Dear Mr. Michael Matt,
In a December 29^th article, you chose to make public a private letter that I wrote to Miss Erica Kauffman, in which I expressed my deep compassion for her, as well as my shame for the past facts that she had revealed. It was difficult for me not to recognize her as the victim of an odious abuse, and not to respond to her call for help.

In doing so, as you noted in your introduction, I corroborated her version of the story and questioned, with her, the management of this case by the SSPX.

However – and it is now a serious duty for me to point this out to you – I made a regrettable mistake at the time. And it is in the hope of repairing it that I am writing to you today, taking advantage on a personal basis of the invitation you have extended to the SSPX authorities.

As the file never passed through my hands, I happened to be unaware, when writing to Miss Kauffman, of a number of details that I have since learned and which today force me to admit in good conscience that I contributed to convey a distorted image of what really happened.

Indeed, having been able to consult the archives of the SSPX, I realized that Bishop Fellay, then Superior General, had indeed treated the case with all possible care.

At the end of his investigation, and after having heard all the parties, he came to the conclusion that it was not a case of rape, but of a reciprocal sentimental relationship. A very sad and serious story, moreover, since such a thing is directly contrary to the sanctity of the priesthood.

I also learned that other people had noticed at the time the existence of a disordered friendship between the two persons.

This sinful affair credibly explains how several meetings could have taken place in the same place – in the apartment of Miss Kauffman, of which this priest had a copy of the key – under always similar circuмstances, over a period of several months.

Bishop Fellay had then taken severe disciplinary measures to supervise the priest, who had to spend a year in penance in a monastery before being sent to Europe to exercise his ministry there, with restrictions during about ten years, which were applied and respected.

Whatever one's opinion may be in this story, it is impossible for me today not to recognize that Miss Kauffman is mistaken when she believes that Fr. Arzuaga was never restricted, or that the SSPX ignored her complaint. The opposite took place.

Contrary to what she states in her December 30^th post, this priest has never been in charge of a school, nor has he ever been allowed to travel freely, out of the control of his superiors.

Nevertheless, I deeply deplore what happened, and I sympathize wholeheartedly with the distress in which Miss Kauffman finds herself today.

Renewing my compassion and assuring her of my prayers for all her intentions, I express my regret for having contributed to spread a false judgment on this sad story.

Fr. Niklaus Pfluger
P. Niklaus Pfluger  |  FSSPX   
Noviciat Ste-Thérèse

Meg, stop the nonsense.  You mean to imply that SSPX has another side of the story?  If so, they haven't stated it, or published any story to the contrary in defense of Arzuaga.  If anyone missed a refutation of the many charges against this perp, I'm sure you can dig them up and reprint them here.

You persist in claiming that it was rape whereas the evidence indicates the contrary.  Between the inexplicable "key" situation, SSPX interviewed witnesses who assert that the two had a suspicious disordered relationship ... i.e. that it was pretty obvious that the two had something going on.

Did you even listen to the first 4 minutes of the video you posted, where Bishop Sanborn takes a very rational and balanced view of such accusations, that they may or may not be true, or partly true, partly false, that there are sinners (people who go bad) in every walk of life, etc.  He says that the accusations he saw seem credible ... but he does not know if they're true.  Solid answer from the Bishop, the entire import of which you somehow missed.