Archdiocese puts priests on leave

PHILADELPHIA – In an action of unprecedented scope in the Roman Catholic Church nationwide, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Tuesday that it was putting 21 priests on administrative leave because of allegations that they sexually abused or behaved improperly with minors.

The archdiocese said it was responding to the Feb. 10 report by a Philadelphia grand jury that found that 37 local priests were serving in ministry despite accusations of questionable behavior.

“I know that for many people, their trust in the church has been shaken,” Cardinal Justin Rigali said in a statement Tuesday. “I pray that the efforts of the archdiocese to address these cases of concern and to re-evaluate our way of handling allegations will help rebuild that trust in truth and justice.”

Church officials did not identify the priests, but said that today and again this weekend, they will inform the parishes and other “affected communities” where the priests worked.

Advocates for abuse victims were quick to condemn the archdiocese for not revealing the priests’ names.

“It is outrageously reckless and callous for Rigali to continue hiding the names of predator priests,” said Joelle Casteix, a regional director of the Survivors’ Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

Not all the priests were in active ministry before they were removed, according to archdiocesan spokeswoman Donna Farrell, who said one was on leave and two were incapacitated. The affected priests are not permitted to live or work in parishes, say Mass, or administer sacraments while on leave.

Rigali said the leaves were “interim measures” while the archdiocese reviews the cases, and “not in any way final determinations or judgments” on the priests.

District Attorney Seth Williams commended church leaders for responding swiftly to the grand jury report. “Cardinal Rigali’s actions … reflect his concern for the physical and spiritual well-being of those in his care,” Williams said.

Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks clergy abuse cases around the nation, called Rigali’s response “an act of desperation, not transparency,” that was “forced on (the cardinal) by the Philadelphia grand jury report.”

Both McKiernan and David Clohessy, executive director of SNAP, said they knew of no religious institution in the United States that had ever removed so many of its clergy so abruptly for reasons related to sex abuse.

Last month, the archdiocese placed on leave three priests who the grand jury said had been allowed to remain in active ministry despite credible allegations of child sexual abuse.

In its report, the grand jury said an archdiocesan employee had testified that at least 37 priests remained in ministry despite what the panel called a “substantial evidence of abuse.”

While the archdiocese did not turn over the personnel files of all 37 priests, the grand jury said that the files it did see suggested that church officials had repeatedly dismissed credible abuse allegations on flimsy pretexts, such as a victim’s misremembering the layout of a rectory or the year in which a priest served in a parish.

“We understand that accusations are not proof,” the grand jury wrote, “but we just cannot understand the archdiocese’s apparent absence of any sense of urgency.”