ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Gary Craig
Staff writer
(March 15, 2005) — Counselors at a Maryland psychiatric center for priests recommended in a 2002 report to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester that the Rev. Michael Volino should be restricted from ministry involving children.
The counselors also cautioned against allowing Volino, a Greece-based priest, to work in schools and recommended that he have no unsupervised contact with children.
These recommendations, also included in the report by St. Luke's Institute, a church-run facility outside Washington in Silver Spring, Md., apparently did not deter the diocese from permitting Volino to continue as a practicing priest within the Monroe County community.
But now, with Volino's recent arrest on child pornography charges, the diocese finds itself having to confront whether it closed its eyes to the possibility that Volino posed a threat to youngsters.
Portions of the report — which was not released to the public — were read publicly by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Feldman at a Monday court hearing.