DAVENPORT (IA)
Quad-City Times
By Todd Ruger
A priest in the Catholic Diocese of Davenport — recently released from federal prison for possession of child pornography on a diocese-owned laptop — has been rehired by the diocese for janitorial work at its headquarters.
Diocese leaders decided to employ the Rev. Richard Poster, 40, in the maintenance department of its Pastoral Center, 2706 N. Gaines St., as they await a decision from the Vatican about a request to remove him from the priesthood, spokesman David Montgomery said.
“(Poster) has direct supervision without contact with children and without access to computers,” Montgomery said in a written statement. “Father Poster will be assigned job duties that are consistent with special conditions of his release, as required by his probation officer.”
However, Al Burke of LeClaire, Iowa, said employing Poster “is an absolute disgrace” for a diocese that gave no outreach to him and other people who tried in the past few years to report the names of priests who sexually abused them decades ago.
Posted by kshaw at May 20, 2005 06:11 AM