In a major reversal, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced that it had placed 21 priests on administrative leave from active ministry in connection with credible charges that they had sexually abused minors. The announcement on March 8 represented an embarrassing turnaround for Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia, who had said in response to a devastating grand jury report in February that there were no priests in active ministry “who have an admitted or established allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against them.” The suspensions follow an initial examination of files, “looking at both the substance of allegations and the process by which those allegations were reviewed,” according to the archdiocese, which said a “thorough independent investigation” will follow the suspensions. “I know that for many people their trust in the church has been shaken,” Cardinal Rigali said. “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.”
Philadelphia Suspends 21 Priests
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
"We, the members of the Society of Jesus, continue to be lifted up in prayer, in lament, in protest at the death and destruction that continue to reign in Gaza and other territories in Israel/Palestine, spilling over into the surrounding countries of the Middle East."
While some children have been evacuated from conflict, more than 1.1 million children in Gaza and 3.7 million in Haiti have been left behind to face the rampaging adult world around them.
Easter will not be postponed this year. It will not wait until the war is over. It is precisely now, in our darkest hour, that resurrection finds us.
The paradox at the heart of Christianity is that we must die in order to live again. And few movies witness to that truth like “Romero” (1989).