NEW YORK
Poughkeepsie Journal
Nina Schutzman, Poughkeepsie Journal March 21, 2016
A longtime Dutchess County priest who was suspended in 2015 after decades-old sexual abuse allegations came to light has officially been removed from the clergy, according to the Archdiocese of New York.
Allegations of sexual abuse made against Peter Kihm have been found to be “credible” by both law enforcement and the Archdiocesan Review Board, said Bishop Dominick John Lagonegro in a letter to parishioners of the Good Shepherd Church in Rhinebeck, where Kihm last served as a priest.
Kihm, who requested “a return to the lay state…will never again be able to serve as a priest here in this archdiocese or anywhere else in the world,” Lagonegro said in his letter.
A “return to the lay state” means that Kihm is no longer officially a priest.
When Kihm was suspended and removed as priest of the Good Shepherd Church in January 2015, the allegation involved a minor — one person — and “more than one occurrence” that happened about 30 years ago, according to Journal archives.
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