Free Republic

Friday, November 09, 2007 Abp. O'Brien removes priest for grave liturgical and disciplinary abuses An exclusive to the Baltimore Sun (underlining mine): Baltimore's new Roman Catholic archbishop removed a priest who was pastor of three South Baltimore parishes for offenses that include officiating at a funeral Mass with an Episcopal priest, which violates canon law.Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien personally ordered the Rev. Ray Martin, who has led the Catholic Community of South Baltimore for five years, to resign from the three churches and sign a statement yesterday apologizing for "bringing scandal to the church."Martin led the funeral Mass on...

A prominent Roman Catholic priest has been suspended after admitting he might have "stepped over the line" with at least one teen-age girl. Monsignor Russell Dillard was put on administrative leave and police were informed after two women contended in a complaint to the Washington Archdiocese that he had engaged in sexual misconduct with them over a five-year period ending in 1984. "He admitted that there was a physical relationship; he doesn't characterize it as sexual abuse," Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick said in an interview Thursday. Dillard, 54, has spent his entire career as a priest in Washington. The conduct...