Vatican Removes Area Priest after Sexual Assault Admission, Cincinnati Enquirer, February 22, 2014

Vatican Removes Area Priest after Sexual Assault Admission

Cincinnati Enquirer
February 22, 2014

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20140222/NEWS/302220027/

After admitting to sexually abusing a teenaged girl in the 1980s, Daniel Pater has been removed from ministry by the Vatican, according to an announcement from The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

In addition to Pater, CDF announced that Rev. David F. Reilly was restored to active ministry after a church court ruled that he was not guilty of inappropriate behavior with a minor.

Reilly was put on administrative leave from St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Shandon in August of 2006 after he was accused of engaging a minor in behavior with sexual overtones in the 1970s, according to CDF.

Pater, who has been on administrative leave since 2003, has been directed by the CDF to “lead a life of prayer and penance.” Pater will never again be permitted to celebrate Mass in public, administer the other sacraments, wear clerical garb or present himself as a priest.

“I hope that this decision will bring some measure of closure and healing to all those harmed by Daniel Pater’s actions,” said the Rev. Dennis M. Schnurr, Archbishop of Cincinnati. “As Archbishop, I deeply regret that any representative of the local Church has ever harmed a child under our care. One of our most important priorities in the Archdiocese is to provide a safe environment for our children.”

The woman claims Pater began sexually abusing her in the early 1980s, when she was 14 to 16 years old. Pater was assigned to St. Charles Borromeo Church in Kettering at the time, and the woman was a student at Alter High School.

In that case, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati settled out of court in 1995 and paid the woman an undisclosed amount.

A separate settlement between the woman and Pater included a promise that she would not "initiate" a criminal prosecution of the priest. The settlement with the church included no such language, although church officials did not notify authorities of the complaint.