February 28, 2006

Priest accused of abuse in FW Diocese is suspended

TEXAS
The Dallas Morning News

07:23 AM CST on Tuesday, February 28, 2006
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News

Catholic Church officials have reversed course and suspended a priest who is accused of molesting at least three girls and three young women in the Fort Worth Diocese.

The Rev. Joseph Tu – cited as an example of U.S. bishops' failure to fully enforce "zero tolerance" discipline reforms – is on leave while his superiors investigate the latest child abuse allegation to come to light.

"Father Tu continues to deny the allegations, and this is not an admission of guilt," Galveston-Houston Archdiocese spokeswoman Annette Gonzales Taylor said Monday. She said that his religious order, the Dominicans, made the suspension after hearing concerns from her boss, Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza.

Posted by kshaw at February 28, 2006 07:52 AM