WATERLOO (IA)
Courier
By PAT KINNEY, Courier Business Editor
WATERLOO --- A Roman Catholic priest accused in civil suits of sexually abusing boys in Waterloo in the 1960s and '70s has been dismissed from the priesthood by Pope Benedict XVI.
Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus announced Thursday the pope's dismissal of the Rev. William Schwartz.
Schwartz has been named in three civil suits in state and federal courts filed in 2005 against himself and the Dubuque archdiocese, alleging he abused boys while serving as associate pastor of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Waterloo in the 1960s, and during the 1970s while he was spiritual director at Columbus High School.
The archdiocese and Schwartz each have denied the allegations in court and say the claims are barred from adjudication by the statute of limitations. The archdiocese removed Schwartz from regular priestly duties in the early 1990s and he was directed not represent himself in public as a priest. Those cases are still pending.