DAYTON (OH)
Middletown Journal
DAYTON — The leader of a two-year-old Catholic lay group formed here in response to the sexual abuse crisis in the church criticized the letters of apology sent out last week by the Rev. Thomas Kuhn.
Kuhn, convicted of 11 misdemeanors including 10 charges relating to either furnished or allowing possession of alcohol to minors and one count of public indecency, was instructed in July to write the letters as one of many conditions of his probation.
Judge Mary Katherine Huffman said at the time that she opted for probation rather than an 18-month jail sentence because Kuhn would be on probation and under its control for five years.
In December, Huffman modified her order to require the letters be completed by the end of January.
Kuhn, 63, sent the letters to five individuals who were teens at the time of the offenses and to three churches where he had worked.
On Thursday, Kuhn denied he violated the terms of probation when he visited a Catholic high school in Cincinnati in September. The visit came the day after a 17-year-old student was shot dead across the street from the school. He had been required not to offer his services to any organization that involved people under 21. He faces a hearing on Feb. 10.
Posted by kshaw at January 20, 2005 06:36 AM