Smokey, many employers give some severance pay to terminated employees, even if they were terminated for misconduct. It gives the employee something to keep going while looking for another job. Would it be better for a fired priest to go on the dole and be supported by the taxpayers?

It would be better if priests fired for child molestation went straight to jail. I don't think further employment is appropriate. We aren't really discussing normal employer/employee relationships and mere misconduct here.

I suppose what struck me was the irony of the difference between my own (unspoken due to wrongness) gut-reaction to all this and the church's in apparently rewarding him for his efforts.