WILMINGTON (DE)
The Review
By Erin Quinn
Published: Monday, March 5, 2012
Following the release of more than 30,000 documents related to sexual abuse cases by the Diocese of Wilmington, survivors’ activists are calling for the resignation of three monsignors who have received the support of the local bishop.
The diocese released the documents at the end of January as part of nonmonetary provisions of a lawsuit, when a survivors’ advocacy group based on the website BishopAccountability.org released the information to the media. The group singled out diocese Monsignors J. Thomas Cini, Joseph Rebman and Clement Lemon as architects of a cover-up, by not reporting abuses to law enforcement officials.
Bishop W. Francis Malooly, who presides over the diocese, stated that he backed the accused priests in the Dialog, the Diocese of Wilmington’s newsletter on Feb. 24.
“None of these three dedicated priests ever engineered a strategy to conceal priest sex abuse,” Malooly said. “None of these men have ever put children at risk by placing an abusive priest back in ministry nor would they ever have had the authority to do so.”
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