Any of these facing the joint?
picking his toes in Poughkeepsie.
Posted on 07/09/2005 1:41:26 PM PDT by NYer
The Vatican has defrocked six priests from the Archdiocese of New York — including one who paid for sex with an underage boy and another who was convicted of sodomizing a drunken teen, officials said yesterday.
All the men lost their pensions and will not be allowed to perform priestly duties and were stripped of their collars by the Roman Catholic Church following allegations of sexual abuse.
A seventh priest, who was also accused of sexual abuse, Rev. Alfred Gallant, of Orange County, was allowed to retain his title of priest and keep his pension, but not allowed to perform sacraments.
One of the defrocked priests, Daniel Calabrese, 44, who once served at a Staten Island parish — pleaded guilty in 1993 to performing oral sex on a teenager in upstate Poughkeepsie.
He admitted to plying the youngster with vodka before abusing him in his church rectory.
Patrick Quigley, who served as a clergyman in Manhattan and Staten Island, pleaded guilty to soliciting adolescent boys for sex in Rockland County.
In addition, Francis Stinner, Ralph LaBelle, Kenneth Jesselli and David Carson were all "reduced to a lay state."
According to an announcement in Catholic New York, the men were punished under the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People."
The provision was created in 2002 after a string of high-profile molestation cases rocked the church's hierarchy and faithful.
In it, the church promised to report abuse to the police and forbids dioceses to sign confidentiality
agreements with victims.
The provision allows older or sick priests to keep their pension and title but not work in the church any longer.
The release of the men's identities fulfills a promise Edward Cardinal Egan made in 2002 after he turned over a list of 30 New York-area priests who'd been accused of sex offenses to the Vatican.
A Vatican committee determined whether the priests should be defrocked.
He'd said then that he would publicly name those who were expelled from the priesthood.
"This is part of what the cardinal pledged to do throughout this process," said archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling.
Zwilling said he will release more names "when and if we hear from the Vatican" about more expunged priests.
Mike Cullen, a former altar boy who was abused by his parish priest and now heads a clergy abuse activist group, said the archdiocese moved too slowly.
"That's not going to help the people that they've already damaged," said Cullen, who is part of the Survivor Network of those Accused by Priests. "It's beyond too little too late."
CLERICS CANNNED
The Vatican has stripped six New York-area priests of the priesthood:
Ralph LaBelle
Served in parishes in The Bronx, Staten Island and Putnam County
Daniel Calabrese
Served in parishes in Staten Island, Poughkeepsie and Congers
Patrick Quigley
Served in parishes in Manhattan, Staten Island and Rockland County
Francis Stinner
Served in parishes in Orange, Sullivan and Westchester counties
Kenneth Jesselli
Served in parishes in The Bronx and Westchester County
David Carson
Served in parishes in Staten Island and Congers and as a chaplain with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs
One suggested pre-requisite for this scholarship (that I think is a wonderful rememberance, her family must be so happy) : Student must have a strong value for life - the born and unborn.
Gotta start somewhere.
This is good news! Think the story will be covered by any major broadcast media?
"Any of these facing the joint?"
That would be a police, civil responsibility.
The church stripping them of their priesthood does NOT preclude the civil authorities of charging, arresting and trying each of them.
Of course, this is a family forum...and I also said 'some of the letters', too. :-)
Loooooonnnggg overdue but I'm delighted that there's finally a butt-kicking pope at the helm.
Good, the vatican needs to crack down on these men.
The two serious offenders in our diocese were defrocked and sent to prison years ago. Back in the late 80s-early 90s, to be precise. A third offender (not a serial homosexual molester) was exiled to a monastery far from any laity for the rest of his natural life.
Pope Benedict is cleaning house in the more lax dioceses that failed to drop the hammer on these perverts promptly.
Your disappointment is understandable. It is a shock to learn that someone in whom we placed trust and confidence has committed a grievous sin. That this priest has now been defrocked, in no way eradicates the validity of your godson's Baptism.
Consider the Apostles. One betrayed our Lord and the others fled when He was brought before the Sanhedrin. Your college friend will have to live with this for the rest of his life. He could certainly benefit from your prayers.
Add 12 from my archdiocese over the last 3 years.
That's it ... an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Perhaps we Christians should adopt the same philosophy as the Muslims. We'll start with severing a hand for stealing, and move on from there. (/sarcasm)
Time for a refresher course on ....
Any of these facing the joint?
Bravo to all! It is reassuring to see it happening. Avoiding a "witch hunt", I hope every single person who can honestly be proven guilty gains the penalty they deserve for misusing the trust of the Faithful.
THANX! I know the Baptism is valid, but the idea of a guy I shared beers with at Fordham being a child abuser and an abuser of sacred trust is disturbing.of course with all that's going on over on the Birmingham thread it's no big deal, but thanks for your concern.
Nah, there are plenty more, we just haven't read about them. It would make news in large Dioces like NY and Boston, but the national media would probably ignore it anywhere else.
Do you realize just how LONG it takes to defrock a priest? All of this was begun while JPII was still Pope, it has just taken until now to get to the end of the process.
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