A Catholic chaplain at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has stepped down after sending an email that read George Floyd “had not lived a virtuous life,” according to the Boston Globe.
Rev. Daniel Patrick Moloney sent the note out on June 7 to the Catholic community at MIT.
“George Floyd was killed by a police officer, and shouldn’t have been. He had not lived a virtuous life. He was convicted of several crimes, including armed robbery, which he seems to have committed to feed his drug habit. And he was high on drugs at the time of his arrest. But we do not kill such people," Moloney said.
The email continued, “In the wake of George Floyd’s death, most people in the country have framed this as an act of racism. I don’t think we know that. Many people have claimed that racism is a major problem in police forces. I don’t think we know that."
Moloney continued in his email by saying police officers “deal with dangerous people and bad people all the time, and that often hardens them.”
Suzy Nelson, MIT's vice president and dean for student life, called Moloney’s email “deeply disturbing” in a message to students on Friday.
“By devaluing and disparaging George Floyd’s character, Father Moloney’s message failed to acknowledge the dignity of each human being and the devastating impact of systemic racism,” Nelson wrote.
The Boston Archdiocese asked Moloney to step down.
“While Fr. Moloney’s comments should not reflect on the entirety of his priestly ministry, they nonetheless were wrong and by his resignation he accepts the hurt they have caused,” archdiocese officials said.
Moloney said he didn't want to "hurt anybody" with what he wrote.
“I regret what happened, I regret it was misunderstood, I regret that [it] became difficult for me to be a voice for Christ on campus,” Moloney told the Globe. “The whole thing went down in a way that I wish were otherwise.”
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