SEATTLE (WA)
The Seattle Times
By The Associated Press
SEATTLE — Two priests from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle have been laicized, or dismissed from the clerical state, because of child sex abuse allegations, Seattle Archbishop Alex J. Brunett said Monday.
George Barry Ashwell and David P. Jaeger, both 62, had already been removed from public ministry while the archdiocese awaited word from the Vatican on their fate.
Jaeger's laicization was voluntary; he admitted in the mid-1990s that he inappropriately touched a 13-year-old boy at a youth camp in 1978. Ashwell had denied inappropriately touching boys in his care.
In all, three priests from the Seattle Archdiocese have now been laicized, a process that can only be completed by the Vatican. The other is John Cornelius, who served in the Seattle Archdiocese from 1975 to 2002 and was defrocked by the Vatican last fall. More than 20 men lodged sexual assault complaints against him.