NEW YORK
Irish Echo
By Ray O'Hanlon
rohanlon@irishecho.com
A prominent New York priest is to be tried before an ecclesiastical court on charges of having an inappropriate relationship with a high school student. The priest in question, Monsignor Charles Kavanagh, said he is relieved by the announcement from the Archdiocese of New York that he will finally have his day in court.
"I'm delighted. All I've asked from the beginning is for a full and fair hearing," Kavanagh told the Irish Echo.
The beginning of Kavanagh's case was May 2002. The accusation against him stretches back more than 20 years.
Since the accusation first surfaced, Kavanagh, who is 68, has been in a canonical version of a legal limbo, uncertain if he would ever have a chance to clear his name.
But the Vatican recently gave the go-ahead for a rare hearing before a panel of canon law experts.