Daily Mail
March 8, 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1364346/Catholic-Church-Philadelphia-suspends-21-priests-sex-abuse-claims.html
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| Taking steps: Cardinal Justin Rigali said that the archdiocese understood the seriousness of the situation |
The archbishop of Philadelphia has suspended 21 Catholic priests suspected of child sex abuse by a grand jury investigation.
Cardinal Justin Rigali said the priests, who have not been named, have been removed from their ministries while their cases are reviewed.
They have been accused of behaving 'inappropriately' with minors.
The Cardinal said: 'These have been difficult weeks since the release of the grand jury report [last month].
'Difficult most of all for victims of sexual abuse but also for all Catholics and for everyone in our community.
He said he was 'truly sorry' for the harm done to the victims and community who suffer as a result of this 'great evil and crime.'
The Cardinal added: 'I know for many people their trust in the Church has been shaken. I pray the efforts to address these cases of concern and to re-evaluate our way of handling allegations will help rebuild that trust in truth and justice.'
The jury's two-year investigation into priest abuse in the archdiocese resulted in charges against two priests, a former cleric and a Catholic school teacher of raping and assaulting young boys.
And in an unprecedented move in the U.S., a former high-ranking church official was accused of transferring problem priests to new parishes without warning anyone of prior sex-abuse complaints.
The report, released on February 10, said as many as 37 priests remained in active ministry despite 'substantial evidence of abuse'.
Of those files it reviewed, it claimed the archdiocese had dismissed credible abuse allegations on flimsy pretexts, such as a victims getting the the layout of a rectory wrong, or the year in which the priest served.
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| The accused: Edward Avery, James Brennan, Charles Engelhardt (top row L-R), and William Lynn and Bernard Shero (bottom row) are all facing charges connected to child sex abuse |
The report said: 'We understand that accusations are not proof, but we just cannot understand the Archdiocese's apparent absence of any sense of urgency.'
An accused priest is sometimes allowed to remain in ministry if he denies committing any assault and the archdiocese has no way of corroborating an allegation.
On the day the grand jury report was released, Cardinal Rigali issued a brief response saying that 'there are no archdiocesan priests in ministry today who have an admitted or established allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against them.'
Edward Avery, 68, and Charles Engelhardt, 64, were charged with allegedly assaulting a 10-year-old boy at St. Jerome Parish from 1998-1999, while 48-year-old Bernard Shero, who taught in the school, is charged with allegedly assaulting the same boy there the following year.
Another priest, James Brennan, is accused of assaulting a 14-year-old boy in 1996. The alleged victims, who are now in their 20s, have not been named.
Monsignor William Lynn, who was secretary for the former-Philadelphia Archbishop Anthony Bevilacqua, faces two counts of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the alleged assaults.
The grand jury found that the 60-year-old had put children at risk, including the alleged victims of those charged, by knowingly allowing dangerous priests to have access to minors within their roles in the ministry.
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