NEW JERSEY
The Record
SATURDAY JULY 27, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
The priest who failed to report inappropriate behavior by another priest now accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl was the pastor of the Passaic parish where the alleged incident took place, raising questions about how effectively the Catholic Church’s “zero tolerance” policy on clergy sex abuse is being followed.
A lawyer for the Diocese of Paterson on Friday condemned the Rev. Edgar Ruiz, the pastor of St. Mary’s of the Assumption, for not contacting church leaders or even confronting the priest, when a young girl told him in May that the Rev. Jose Lopez had taken her into his private living quarters months earlier for counseling.
“That was a major league mistake and violation of our policies, procedures and guidelines,” said the lawyer, Ken Mullaney.
In light of the clergy sex-abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church for more than a decade, dioceses have adopted policies to guard against and detect sexual abuse, requiring clergy members to report any allegations to the authorities, or in the case of the Paterson Diocese, even hints of them.
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