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	Prosecutors Want to Revoke Priest's Parole By Jason Riley The Courier-Journal [Louisville, KY] June 11, 2007 http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070611/NEWS01/70611025/1008/NEWS01 An 81-year-old Roman Catholic priest sentenced last year to five years of probation for abusing four boys between 1956 and 1966 has violated the conditions of his release by failing to register as a sex offender, according to prosecutors. The Rev. Edwin Scherzer, a Roman Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Louisville, also was kicked out of the state’s Sex Offender Treatment Program for violating his treatment contract by refusing to admit he abused three of the four boys, according to court records. A Jefferson Circuit Court judge did not decide the issue today. In November 2005, Scherzer pleaded guilty to four felony counts of indecent or immoral practices with a child under 15, the equivalent of what would be called sexual abuse under current Kentucky law. He agreed to spend five years under house arrest. Scherzer was also supposed to complete a sex offender treatment program and register with the sex offender registry, among other conditions. Part of the treatment program includes accepting responsibility, but Scherzer would only admit the “a portion of the claims of one victim,” according to his supervision report in court records. Three of the four victims previously filed lawsuits against the archdiocese, accusing the priest of abuse, and were part of the $25.7 million sex-abuse settlement that plaintiffs reached with the archdiocese in 2003. Scherzer retired in 1995. Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly removed him from public ministry in 2002. Earlier this year, the Vatican ordered him to lead a life of prayer and penance but did not remove him from the priesthood. Scherzer cannot perform any public ministry, present himself as a priest or have unsupervised contact with minors. Reporter Jason Riley can be reached at (502) 582-4727 or jriley@courier-journal.com
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