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I’ve never spoken to Scranton Bishop Emeritus James Timlin.

I’ve only encountered him personally once or twice at a distance.

And yet I’ve spent a lot of time looking at his face.

Timlin’s distinctive, jowly visage was all over our paper in August, as we reported on the details of a statewide grand jury report alleging that he covered up numerous cases of sex abuse both during and prior to his time leading the diocese.

So when I initially scrolled past an Associated Press photo of several bishops on an escalator Monday afternoon, something in my brain shouted at me to stop and go back.

Each day, the AP churns out detailed “budgets” of the stories they expect to publish for use by member organizations, such as the Times Leader.

I knew that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was holding its general assembly in Baltimore, and that there had been controversy after the Vatican pressured the bishops to postpone plans to vote on proposed new steps to address the clergy sex abuse crisis.

There it was on the budget, as expected. And there were photos.

What I didn’t expect was to stumble across that familiar face at the front of a row of black-coated clergymen looking intently toward the photographer from the steps of an escalator “during a break in sessions,” as the AP’s caption put it.

The AP didn’t list their names. I didn’t need them to identify Timlin, but I called Executive Editor Joe Soprano and several other newsroom staffers over to my screen to examine the photo.

“Unless he has a doppelganger …” Soprano said.

A national piece about controversial but not entirely surprising move by the USCCB suddenly became a very local story.

What was he doing there? After all, incumbent Bishop Joseph Bambera had, in August, decreed that Timlin was no longer allowed to represent the diocese at public events, “liturgical or otherwise.”

“Maybe this doesn’t count as a public event,” reporter Bill O’Boyle said matter-of-factly.

A succinct emailed response from diocesan spokesman Bill Genello put things into equally matter-of-fact context.

“While Bishop Timlin is forbidden from representing the Diocese of Scranton, membership in the USCCB and attendance at conferences is beyond the control of Bishop Bambera,” Genello wrote.

“Bishop Bambera asked Bishop Timlin not to attend,” Genello concluded.

We live in strange times. A PR professional for the local branch of a 2,000-year-old global organization just emailed to describe an apparent rift between the local manager and his predecessor, both of whom are still on the payroll.

As a proud graduate of Catholic schools, it still feels surreal to be writing about issues like this. Readers — especially our many Catholic subscribers — must surely feel the same reading them.

As of press time, it was not immediately clear what Timlin was doing at the conference, and whether or not he still has the ability to vote on decisions made by the assembled bishops.

That’s especially relevant, as the American church’s response to sex abuse was high on the agenda.

All American Catholics will be wondering what will happen next with those proposals. Northeastern Pennsylvania Catholics will rightly be wondering what Timlin was doing there.

It looks to me like he and the other bishops on that escalator probably spotted AP photographer Patrick Semansky training his lens on them, and none of them looks happy about it.

What was Timlin thinking?

Wouldn’t we all like to know.

Timlin
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By Roger DuPuis

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