Posted on 06/24/2005 6:28:59 AM PDT by NYer
PHILADELPHIA -- Seven more priests removed from their duties by the Philadelphia Archdiocese in recent years for allegedly abusing minors have been defrocked by the Vatican, the archdiocese announced Thursday.
Among them, the priests had served in about 35 parishes and five Catholic high schools across the Philadelphia region over the past four decades.
The seven had been removed from their ministerial duties in the archdiocese years ago.
The Vatican's decision to laicize, or permanently remove them, is the most serious action the Roman Catholic Church can take against a priest. They are barred from ever administering sacraments or serving as priests in any capacity.
Donna M. Farrell, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese, declined to give a total number of area priests removed from their duties for sexually abusing minors, but the archdiocese covering the city and suburbs previously has said 47 priests, living or dead, had been removed as a result of such allegations in the last half-century.
Thursday's announcement brought to nine the number in the archdiocese who have been defrocked as a result of the scandal.
The announcement Thursday in the archdiocesan newspaper, the Catholic Standard and Times, provided no details of the alleged abuse, saying only that the priests were defrocked for "misconduct involving minors."
Justin Cardinal Rigali declined to comment, though Farrell said he "does offer deep apologies to the victims of sexual abuse."
The dismissals followed similar announcements recently in other cities. The Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., said in January that eight of its priests had been defrocked, and the Archdiocese of Boston, where the child abuse scandal burst into public view in 2002, said June 9 that six of its priests had been defrocked.
Bill Ryan, a spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Thursday that a Vatican office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was handling a "backlog" of cases involving church requests to defrock American priests. He said he didn't know how many had been removed from the priesthood or how many cases were pending.
Ping!
The Vatican is getting busy, no?
Yeah no joke. Good to see some action by the Vatican. I do like Pope Benedict XVI. Back when he was Ratzinger, he had my total support for pope. So far so good!
All should be defrocked, and sooner rather than later. They cannot hide in the Church any more. Since 1962 these pedophiles have infiltrated the Catholic Church and other Houses of Worship. They are against the laws of God and MUST be removed.
New and improved with B16!
Not pedophiles. Gay, which is to say sexual libertines.
I think this is incorrect -- in an end-of-life emergency, they could still hear your confession.
There were pedophiles in the Church long before 1962.
Regardless, we're getting a much-needed cleansing! God be praised!
If you read the article, you will see some of these guys were preying on children in the age range of 10-11. That is pedophilia. Also, some of them were preying only on girls.
Haulin' out the trash ping!
I imagine there are lots of backlogs resulting from having had an ailing pope.
That would be "homosexuals who like younger stuff."
This situation was my only real gripe with JPII (and I think was the biggest "black mark" on his Pontificate in the eyes of non-Catholics). I am delighted that Benedict is moving quickly to deal with these monsters.
Ping
I believe Benedict XVI will make the Changes necessary to implement the original intentions of Vatican II. He is certainly moving his men like chess pieces to implement that policy.
I believe the reported incedents prior to 1962 were very few, as that behavior was not tolerated one iota in that society. If it existed within the priesthood at all.
Today, the permissiveness has run rampent and needs to be purged as is being done now.
Why would it be necessary for a Priest to wear an earing in his left ear? (Left is right and right is wrong).
*Such was the problem with homosexuality back in the day in Florence that Florenzer was German slang for a homosexual.
If it existed within the priesthood at all.
*Google Saint Peter Damien + Gomorrah
Nothing new under the sun
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