Accused priest called innocent

A 90-year-old Catholic priest accused of inappropriate touching has returned to his California home after an investigation found no crime had been committed.

According to a Spokane Diocese press release, three altar girls from Trinity School accused the visiting Dominican priest of inappropriately hugging and pinching them after Dec. 8 Mass at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church.

The students reported the behavior to their teacher, who took the matter to the principal, said Spokane Diocese Vicar General Steve Dublinski.

By afternoon, police were investigating the incident and the priest had been removed from ministry in Spokane and temporarily removed from ministry by his superiors in California, pending the outcome of a church investigation, said Dublinski.

The police investigation, however, is complete.

“What the investigator on the case said is he talked to everybody involved, the girls, the parents, the principal and the priest. The agreement was there was no crime. So it’s been closed,” said Spokane police spokesman Dick Cottam.

Cottam added that the detective assigned to the case said he was contacted quickly and that church leaders were cooperative.

Dublinski said this isn’t the first time the diocese’s recently enacted policy on reported abuse has been tested.

“A couple of years back, when we had first developed the policy, we removed a deacon from ministry in a very similar way,” he said.

Diocesan officials are continuing to investigate the incident at St. Anthony’s Parish to see if the priest violated the Catholic Church’s code of conduct, said Dublinski.

“Our code of conduct is a lot stricter than the law,” he said.

Dublinski would not release the priest’s name pending completion of the church’s investigation. The priest has served in the Spokane Diocese off and on for years.

Trinity School Principal Michael Trudeau sent a letter home to parents the day after the incident explaining what had happened.

Both Trudeau and Dublinski praised the girls for reporting the priest’s behavior to their teacher.

“Because the youth did the right thing, it allowed the adults to take correct actions,” Dublinski said.