LEXINGTON (KY)
Herald-Leader
By Frank E. Lockwood
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
A priest accused of abusing a Cathedral of Christ the King altar boy in the 1980s has been permanently stripped of his duties, but the Lexington diocese has not abandoned legal efforts to prevent the priest's alleged victim from receiving any financial compensation.
The diocese, which had insisted for the past six months that no decision had been made in the case of the Rev. William J. Fedders, revealed the discipline in a press release yesterday after a Herald-Leader reporter told them he was doing a story on the Fedders case.
Fedders has been removed "from all active public ministry, including the public celebration of the Mass and the Sacraments, and prohibited from publicly presenting himself as a Catholic priest and wearing clerical garb," the statement said. Fedders, 66, is living "a life of prayer and penance" and will continue to receive financial help from the diocese.
The suspension was handed down before the end of September, though the diocese did not give a specific date yesterday. Parishioners were never informed of Bishop Ronald Gainer's decision and a diocesan spokesman had denied, in November and in May interviews with Herald-Leader reporters, that any decision had been reached regarding Fedders' status.
Posted by kshaw at June 3, 2005 07:21 AM