PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News
By THERESA CONROY
conroyt@phillynews.com
The sins of the father were forgiven - and almost forgotten - yesterday.
The Rev. James Behan, the area's only Catholic priest convicted in the church's sex scandal, had faced up to 25 years in a state penitentiary for repeatedly abusing a North Catholic High School student for two years in the late 1970s.
He was sentenced to just 12 years' probation.
The prosecutor asked that the molesting priest be sent to prison for 11 to 22 years. The defense attorney wanted him set free to return to his duties of changing "soiled diapers" and cleaning bathrooms for elderly priests.