ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Review
Three priests accused of sexual abuse have been dismissed from the priesthood, Archbishop Raymond L. Burke announced Jan. 28.
Archbishop Burke had initiated laicization proceedings last year against Michael McGrath, Donald Straub and Robert Yim "for the welfare of all children and for the welfare of the Church," according to a statement by the archdiocese.
The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith dismissed the three from the clerical state.
According to the statement by the archdiocese, all three men had credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against them. Last year in a mediation process the archdiocese settled several civil cases of clergy abuse that involved McGrath and Yim as well as others.
Laicization, which is given with the approval of the pope, means that a priest has been definitively returned to the status of a layman, is dispensed from all the obligations that he assumed by sacred orders and that a diocese no longer has responsibility for his support.