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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
Any of these facing the joint?
Let's see...this brings the total of priests punished by the Vatican for homosexual behavior to...what, six?
Good. Looks like Benedict is cleaning house.
That was my thought too.
Great news, I'm glad to see Benedict stepping up the housecleaning.
this is great and I'm glad that the Church is doing this but why aren't these guys in jail/facing criminal charges?
Without the new Pope, don't think you would even have six. Looks like he is cleaning house.
Good. About time.
Somehow, one could rearrange some of the letters of that last word, and it would be a much more appropriate punishment for them....
Excellent! Pope Benedict has come out swinging a new broom :-)
Fair enough question. But suppose this is just the beginning; i.e., "new Pope, new policy"? If the Vatican is lowering the boom on this stuff, every Diocese in the country can expect losses. Why would they single out New Jersey?
It looks to me like Benedict is taking this issue a lot more seriously than his predecessor.
Defrocking these perverts doesn't seem to go far enough.
Caning (ala Singapore) would seem more appropriate for what these, and others, have not only done to youngsters but for the damage they've done to Christ's Church on earth.
About 100 strokes of the rattan cane that has been dipped in salt brine would seem appropriate prior to giving them castration and 50 years at hard labor.
These weasels wouldn't survive the caning.
My thoughts exactly.
Good for Pope Benedict!
Prune the dead wood. It dosn't matter how much it takes. Prune it back to healthy green wood again. The dead wood will burn. The green wood will yield healthy growth.
God bless our new Pope!
This is disgusting! What's worse is I went to college with one of these guys. I stood as godfather to another friend's son while this guy performed the Baptism.
later pingout.
Sure, justice takes a long time, and probably some of these crimes were covered up in earlier years when they should have been dealt with.
But now they need to take the time to investigate these cases and do it right. There has sometimes been a problem with false accusations and greedy lawyers.
Ponnises? :-)All the men lost their pensionsSomehow, one could rearrange some of the letters of that last word, and it would be a much more appropriate punishment for them....
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