Rochester Diocese Board Says Sex-abuse Allegations against Auburn Priest Are "Credible and True"

By Charles Ellis
The Post-Standard
February 11, 2012

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/02/rochester_diocese_board_says_s.html

Allegations of sexual abuse by a priest who served for five years in Auburn have been found to be “credible and true” by Rochester’s Diocesan Review Board.

Now, that priest could be defrocked.

The Rev. Dennis Shaw is alleged to have abused two boys under the age of 16 when he was serving at St. Francis of Assisi parish in Rochester in the late 1970s and 1980s. One of the men alleges that the abuse occurred multiple times over a period of several years.

When the initial announcement of an investigation into the charges was made in December 2010, he was placed on administrative leave and not allowed to function as a priest or exercise any public ministry. The Vatican will review the case, the diocese announced from the pulpit at its Masses last weekend.

“We cannot ascertain a timetable for that,” said Doug Mandelaro, the diocese’s director of communications. “The maximum penalty is removal from the clerical state.”

The review board is a group of lay professionals and clergy that offers confidential advice to Bishop Matthew H. Clark. The board’s assessment of the sexual abuse was unanimous, the diocese statement said.

From 2005 until December 2010, he served as parochial administrator of Holy Family Church in Auburn.

He was ordained on March 22, 1974. After ordination, he served at Blessed Sacrament Church, Rochester, from 1974-1977; St. Francis of Assisi Church, Rochester, 1977-1987; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Rochester, 1987-1993; the Community of Hope (Our Lady of Mt. Carmel/St. Michael’s/Holy Redeemer/St. Francis) 1993-2005, before coming to Auburn’s Holy Family Church.