PENNSYLVANIA
GoErie
Persico: ‘Faithful have a right to know’
By Ed Palattella
A brief notice in a recent edition of the Catholic Diocese of Erie’s newspaper signals a new diocesan policy.
Bishop Lawrence Persico is publicizing the names of priests who, from now on, have been permanently dismissed from the priesthood for disciplinary reasons or removed from active clerical duty for reasons related to wrongdoing.
The notice, in the March 5 edition of Faith Life, the diocese’s biweekly newspaper, states that Pope Francis has dismissed a former priest in the diocese, Samuel B. Slocum, 65.
The notice represents the first time the Catholic Diocese of Erie has publicized the permanent dismissal of a priest, the diocese confirmed. Persico has headed the 13-county diocese since October 2012.
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