OHIO
Community Press
Thomas Brunner, former principal of Mount Notre Dame High School and former pastor of Good Shepherd Church in Montgomery, has been laicized by Pope Benedict XVI.
In a letter to Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith granted Brunner's petition for laicization, or defrocking, from the priesthood.
Brunner was barred from functioning as a priest in September 2003 when a church law went into effect prohibiting priests who have offended a child from continuing in the ministry.
In November 2003, two female students filed a lawsuit in Hamilton County Common Please Court, accusing Brunner of molesting them and seeking individual damages in excess of $1 million. The case is pending on appeal in the Ohio Supreme Court. Brunner requested the laicization.