Illinois priest calls 911 after getting stuck in handcuffs and gag he was ‘playing with'

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Illinois priest calls 911 after getting stuck in handcuffs and gag he was ‘playing with'

by GoPride.com News Staff

Filed under: Lifestyle, Local News, National News

Mon. January 7, 2013 9:59:57 AM : 26 Comments - continue the discussion

Short URL: http://gopride.com/Z7to

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Cuffed and gagged priest put on leave from diocese headed by Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki

Springfield, IL — A Catholic priest from the Springfield diocese headed by Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki, who testified against Illinois' marriage equality bill, is on administrative leave after calling 911 to report that he was unable to remove a pair of handcuffs he'd been "playing with."

Father Tom Donovan as seen in his Linked-In profile

"I'm going to need help getting out before this becomes a medical emergency," Father Tom Donovan told a dispatcher during the Nov. 28 call.

"You're stuck in a pair of handcuffs?" the dispatcher asks.

"(I was) playing with them and I need help getting out," Donovan responds.

His voice on the 911 tape released Friday by police sounds garbled or muffled. When police arrived at the St. Aloysius church, they discovered Donovan in the church's rectory where he was also wearing a gag.

Donovan told the dispatcher that he was alone in the rectory when he was gagged and cuffed. There has been no explanation as to how Donovan handcuffed and gagged himself.

St. Aloysius church is under the Diocese of Springfield headed by Bishop Paprocki since June 2010. Paprocki lead a group of three that testified against Illinois' gay marriage bill on Thursday.

"The pending bill would radically redefine what marriage is for everybody," Bishop Paprocki said before a Senate Executive Committee. "Laws have long-term consequences because laws teach—they tell us what is socially acceptable, and what is not."

Bishop Paprocki and the diocese have remained tight-lipped about the matter. Kathie Sass, spokeswoman for the Springfield diocese, would not disclose Donovan's whereabouts to the Illinois Times or say whether he is staying at a church-affiliated location.

"There's a matter of privacy there," she said.

Bishop Paprocki made national headlines in September 2012 when he told parishioners that voting for Democrats, "makes you morally complicit and places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy."

Source: Illinois Times

Related: Illinois gay marriage bill moves forward, but at a slower pace

Related: Illinois marriage equality rally energizes LGBT community

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POST A COMMENT

This actually sounds like it meets the definition of a sexual assult and he is hiding the identity of his aggressor/attacker...
I'm sure whoever did this to him, did it as a political statement but they placed his life at risk in doing so... Would have been much better if they just recorded the acts and released him instead of placing his life in danger.
All those who think this is funny please imagin how you would feel if the article read, "Priest found Dead from suffercation after being cuffed and gagged" or Dead from heart attack, or dead from falling and hitting his head...
Whoever did this did not commit and act of justice, they commited a felony.

Posted by heychippy on Mon, 1/7/2013 11:04 AM

and yet we can't get married..........

Posted by Drew Freund on Mon, 1/7/2013 11:23 AM

This is too good...

Posted by Val Demma on Mon, 1/7/2013 11:27 AM

Fool.

Posted by Shawn Michael on Mon, 1/7/2013 11:42 AM

ha ha

Posted by Matthew McIntosh on Mon, 1/7/2013 11:44 AM

Made my day :)

Posted by John Simon on Mon, 1/7/2013 1:43 PM

@heychippy this was not an attack. He stated he was "playing" with the handcuffs and I guess he must have been "playing" with a gag too. If this was an attack or done to make a political statement the church would have immediately said that in a statement. Why do you think they are being so tight lipped?

Posted by MatthewRobert on Mon, 1/7/2013 1:50 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqP3wT5lpa4

Posted by AskDavid on Mon, 1/7/2013 2:21 PM

OMG!! you think this was a sexual assault and he's "hiding his aggressor/attacker?? Give me a break. He's a catholic priest that was playing bondage with someone and it got out of hand!! The priest is as guilty as whoever was with him. This is a catholic priest, what else would you expect!!

Posted by Trish Hitt on Mon, 1/7/2013 2:50 PM

hehehe

Posted by CPJay on Mon, 1/7/2013 2:56 PM

Heychippy, wow, are you deluded.

He was obviously engaging in bondage with someone.

If it had been an attack the church would not be being tight-lipped but making statements about an attack.

Posted by Melissa on Mon, 1/7/2013 6:10 PM

Perverts, most of them . . . let them have sex openly and problem solved . . . wake up Pope . . .

Posted by ChicCoyote on Mon, 1/7/2013 8:01 PM

worse, this priest was one of three who testified against Marriage Equality in the past weeks.

Posted by Greg O'Neill on Mon, 1/7/2013 10:31 PM

All perverts with the holy blessing of the Pope . . .

Posted by Frank Failing on Tue, 1/8/2013 12:42 AM

@HeyChippy - Your points are well taken but there is not enough information to make that judgement. Your scenario is possible but my feeling is either the church or a church surrogate would define this as an assault. Another scenario is something went wrong with a consensual game and the priest may have requested his partner to leave prior to calling 911 to spare or reduce embarrassment. Another possibility is that the game went wrong, Father Tim started showing signs of distress and his partner panicked and ran out. It is plausible that this was a known partner, an anonymous partner, or a full sexual assault. My 81 year old mother laughed only because of the irony of the church's hypocrisy, not because the priest ended up in a terrible situation.

Posted by John157 on Tue, 1/8/2013 4:14 AM

Father is a freak

Posted by Michael on Tue, 1/8/2013 10:39 AM

This is only a hypothesis, but I'm guessing the priest probably met with somebody he didn't know well enough on a site like Craigslist or a gay hook-up site. They probably began what the priest thought was a consentual sexual roleplay, only to find out that the other person was a sexual predator. The priest won't even admit that a second party was envolved, so we don't know for certain if he was robbed or if there was any other malintent involved. The church is being very tight-lipped of course, this situation would be embarassing to everybody involved! I feel horrible for this priest! Based on the outcome alone, he obviously made a bad choice (regardless of what exactly happened) and now will have some serious reprecusions and humiliation to deal with.

Posted by Brian488 on Tue, 1/8/2013 1:43 PM

I'm guessing it was the holy ghost

Posted by Greg on Tue, 1/8/2013 5:57 PM

Hello boys and girls, today’s word is hypocrisy, Can you say hypocrisy

Posted by Mike on Tue, 1/8/2013 7:23 PM

@Heychippy...you act like he didn't want it to happen. Kindof hard to put in that situation, esp if he was unwilling.

Posted by Lisa on Wed, 1/9/2013 6:29 AM

Dear Father Donovan: congratulations on your (rather awkward) coming out as a pervey sexual deviant - welcome to the club. Second, I know the Catholic church tends to go a little light on sex-ed, so let me help you out with some advice. The first rule of bondage play is only play with someone you trust - not strangers you hook up with. The second rule is have a safe word so your partner releases you from the cuffs, gag, butt plug harness, or whatever you've got going on if you reach your limit and can't take it. Calling 911 is NOT a safe word. Here's hoping (after you've processed through the church-inflicted shame and self-loathing) you can find someone you trust and can have a more safe and consensual encounter next time. You might also consider seizing this opportunity to leave the (hopelessly medieval) Catholic church and start a new and more honest life. Good luck!

Posted by JB on Wed, 1/9/2013 11:35 AM

So, you think that someone attacked him as a political statement and hand cuffed him and gagged him and left him there to perish? I think that it's more likely that the Priest and the Bishop were having a little of their S & M fun and the Bishop was punishing a "Bad Boy". But the Priest got worried when the Bishop didn't come back so he called 911.

Posted by John on Thu, 1/10/2013 11:58 PM

This is a non story. If this had happened to anyone except a priest, we wouldn't be hearing about it.

Posted by Marvin880 on Sun, 1/13/2013 2:00 PM

@MARVIN880... the fact that it happened to a priest makes it newsworthy. The hypocrisy alone!

Posted by RyanOH on Mon, 1/14/2013 9:32 AM

Heychippy: What exactly is a "sexual assult?" Is that like a combination of an assault and an insult? Or an insult of one's ass? Please explain.

Also, what exactly is "suffercation?" Is it like suffocation only with more suffering? I am so confused right now. Please enlighten me.

While you are at it, please enlighten me as to why you think he is hiding the identity of his "attacker" as opposed to the identity of his sexual partner and the nature of the situation that led to him being handcuffed and gagged in the rectory?

Finally, while you were misspelling so amusingly, couldn't you have misspelled "rectory?" That would have been awesomely funny.

Posted by James509 on Wed, 1/16/2013 1:09 AM

1) why is this matter public and on FB...where is the confidentiality in 911? well and
2)next time I am playing and gagging him, and we get stuck we won't be calling 911 and
3)the church should stay out of matters like equality...they don't allow women to be nuns and historically at one point women were priests...and if we are quoting Bible....the whole idea of Popes, Bishops et al, did not even exist at the time the Bible was written...so a lot of this is all...non-existant in the bigger picture. I wonder...since when is a Priest the right guy to go to for marriage counselling? And...when a Priest does get into some trouble, Diocese usually sends them away for a rest, or...........it's all funny and sad at the same time. Suggestion...dear priest in handcuffs, maybe, just maybe..the Priesthood is not exactly the right vocation for you...so take a vacation and ponder..........yonder......

Posted by zedart55 on Sat, 1/19/2013 12:34 PM

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