Editor’s note

On Jan. 3 we posted on our website a story by Bruce Rushton that Father Tom Donovan, pastor at St. Aloysius, was granted a leave of absence after a Nov. 28 incident in which he called 911 at 4:45 a.m. because he was trapped in handcuffs inside the church rectory. We also posted the audio recording of the 911 call. The web story received tens of thousands of hits over the weekend and prompted a mostly healthy discussion in the comments section of illinoistimes.com on topics including privacy, press responsibility and sex policies of the Catholic church. For this week’s print edition, Rushton places the incident in the context of other incidents regarding priests in the Springfi eld diocese. He reports that some of the processes and safeguards the diocese established earlier to react to reports of priestly misconduct have been discontinued. See “Priestly predilections continue,” page 8.

On page 9 Rushton reports on legal issues involving the city’s process for approving health benefi ts for civil union partners. Rushton was plaintiff in the lawsuit in which a judge ruled that the city violated the Open Meetings Act. Awkward, yes, for a reporter to be covering his own case, but we rely on discerning Illinois Times readers to approach the story knowing where the writer comes from. For the record, Illinois Times supports benefi ts for civil-union partners, but we also support open government. Even good policy shouldn’t be decided in secret.

–Fletcher Farrar, editor and publisher