AFP news
written by Daniel Kelley
Friday May 4, 2012
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — Five Catholic priests suspended last year in Philadelphia's scandal-hit archdiocese over allegations of sexual abuse have been barred from church duties, Archbishop Charles Chaput announced Friday.
The five will be barred from saying Mass and all "public ministerial duties." Three others have been reinstated, he told a press conference.
"Dealing with the sexual abuse and protecting children has been -- and will remain -- a top priority for me and for this Archdiocese," Chaput said.
Those eight priests were among 27 suspended by Cardinal Justin Rigali after the release of a scathing grand jury report last year. The report, the third grand jury probe into the Philadelphia Archdiocese in a decade, criticized the church for failing to heed victims.
One of the priests has since died. The fates of the remaining priests remain undecided.
In some cases that is because law enforcement officials have not concluded their investigations and in other cases because Chaput has yet to decide.
Gina Maisto, a former sex crimes prosecutor hired to investigate the allegations, described a thorough investigation that reviewed 400,000 documents and interviewed 225 witnesses across the United States and abroad.
"I am optimistic that this process represents both a conclusion and a beginning for this archdiocese," Maisto said.
The five priests will be monitored for the rest of their lives. Some may face church trial in which they could be de-frocked.
Chaput offered no timeline as to when rulings on the remaining priests will be made.
"Please don't hold us to any schedules. The only schedule is a thorough review,' Chaput said.
Chaput also promised a new church investigative structure that will refer claims of abuse immediately to law enforcement officials.
"Our actions, including these outcomes and the steps we have taken to improve our policies and procedures, show that we have learned from the past. No lesson from the sexual abuse scandal is more important than the understanding that the people who suffer most are the victims."
The announcement comes as prosecutors in Philadelphia wrapped up the sixth week of testimony in the trial of Monsignor William Lynn, the highest ranking US church official to face trial in the church's roiling sex abuse scandal.
Lynn served as secretary of the clergy from 1994 to 2001 and is accused of covering up sexual abuse of minors by his subordinates.
Chaput cited that trial, a gag order, and sensitivity to victims in declining to discuss more details about the cases.
"I realize you would like me to provide considerable details about these cases. That I cannot do," Chaput said.
But David Clohessy, director of the group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said it did not violate victims' privacy to explain to parishioners the number of allegations against the priest and the nature of those allegations. He said secrecy remains the church's strategy.
"Chaput continues to do the absolute bare minimum," Clohessy said.
Lynn is being tried with the Reverend James Brennan, who is accused of sexually abusing boys in the 1990's. A second defendant, defrocked priest Edward Avery, pleaded guilty on the eve of trial.
About a dozen protesters stood outside the archdiocese's office during the announcement. Neither Lynn nor Brennan are among the five barred clergymen.
Robert Hoatson, a former priest who says he was ostracized by the church after he went public as a victim of sex abuse, questioned the timing of the announcements by Chaput
"What this trial is uncovering are the inner secrets of the Roman Catholic church," Hoatson said. "You can find the same structures in every diocese that have created this aberration."
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