Three priests removed from service over sexual abuse

Mon Apr 8, 2013 1:55AM


Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput has permanently removed three more parish priests from public ministry over claims of sexual abuse or misconduct around minors, including one whose accuser killed himself in 2009, allegedly after church officials first declared his claim unsubstantiated.


That priest, the Rev. Joseph J. Gallagher, has been deemed "unsuitable for ministry due to violations" of church standards, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Sunday. A second priest, the Rev. Mark Gaspar, was removed for the same reason, officials said. As it has in other cases, the archdiocese did not identify the violations, or any details about the accusers or their claims.

A third priest, Msgr. Richard T. Powers, 77, was permanently removed over substantiated allegations that he abused a 17-year-old girl during an overseas trip 40 years ago.

Each of the priests had been on administrative leave, along with two dozen others suspended in the wake of a 2011 grand jury report that accused the archdiocese of failing to act on credible allegations of child sex abuse or misconduct by priests. In the past year, Chaput has restored eight of the suspended clerics to ministry, and declared seven others were unfit to continue to publicly serve as priests.

The decisions were announced this weekend at parishes where the priests last served before they were put on leave - St. Richard, where Gallagher was the pastor and pastor emeritus; Our Lady of Charity Church in Brookhaven, Delaware County, for Gaspar; and Epiphany of Our Lord in Philadelphia for Powers.

The grand jury report said Gallagher was twice accused of fondling altar boys at St. Mark's Church in Bristol Township, Bucks County in the early 1980s.

One of his accusers, Daniel Neill, allegedly gave archdiocesan victim coordinators a detailed account in 2007 of how Gallagher molested him. The report said other altar boys confirmed aspects of the boy's, while Gallagher gave investigators "evasive" answers. But church officials declined to take action against Gallagher. Neill killed himself in 2009. The Inquirer


FACTS & FIGURES

Sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests has been widely reported throughout the world, with the countries of Canada, Ireland, United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, Belgium, France, Germany and Australia receiving the most attention. digitaljournal.com

The Catholic Church has been rocked in recent decades by accusations that it tried to cover up the sexual abuse of children by priests and has paid out billions in settlements to abuse victims, bankrupting several U.S. dioceses. Daily Star

On Jan. 31, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles released 12,000 pages of internal files on priests accused of sexually abusing children. NY Times

Studies commissioned by the U.S. bishops found more than 4,000 U.S. priests have faced sexual abuse allegations since the early 1950s, in cases involving more than 10,000 children - mostly boys. AP


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