Archdiocese Removes Father Paul from Ministry without Announcement

By Susan Matthews
The Catholics4change
November 20, 2013

http://catholics4change.com/2013/11/20/archdiocese-removes-father-paul-from-ministry-without-announcement/

First Father Paul resigned from Our Lady of Calvary, where he remained as pastor while under investigation and review for two allegations of child sex abuse. A week later, without announcement, the archdiocese temporarily removed his faculties and he will not be able to celebrate Mass in public pending the outcome of the canonical investigation. This has been confirmed by an archdiocesan official. The only reason we discovered Father Paul’s removal is because Kathy Kane monitors the clergy list for just such changes.

- Why, after leaving him as pastor during much of the investigation, remove him from ministry now?

- Why wasn’t there a public announcement of this removal? Other victims might be prompted to come forward.

- Do the parishioners of Our Lady of Calvary know Father Paul has been temporarily removed from ministry? The families were not informed of the allegations until he resigned. The archdiocese did not consider them “pertinent parties.” Which is odd, given the Safe Environment statement on the Archdiocesan website. “Parents are the first and most influential teachers of children and are responsible for their spiritual, moral, emotional, physical, and intellectual development. This is an awesome and sometimes daunting responsibility. When armed with proper information, parents can best protect their children from predators.”

One thing is very clear, the archdiocese isn’t concerned about arming parents with that information. In fact, they’ll keep it from them.