Survivors of Abuse "Heartened," "Ecstatic" after Action against Ex-st. George's Chaplain

By Karen Lee Ziner
Providence Journal
October 12, 2016

http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20161011/survivors-of-abuse-heartened-ecstatic-after-action-against-ex-st-georges-chaplain

The Episcopal Church issued "the most severe penalty" possible against Howard W. "Howdy" White Jr. when it removed him from the priesthood Monday, nearly 50 years after he was ordained.

Every diocesan bishop within the Episcopal Church — here and abroad — will be notified Wednesday.

White, 75, former associate chaplain at St. George's School, is one of six former staff or faculty members accused in the sex-abuse scandal that has rocked the elite Middletown prep school since last December.

White remains under criminal investigation in North Carolina, based on two allegations of sexual abuse in the mid-1980s. White could not be reached for comment Monday or Tuesday in Bedford, Pennsylvania, where he lives.

"Since Howard White has not been convicted of a crime, the Church doesn't have any further disciplinary authority over him ... and cannot police his life," said Jim Naughton, spokesman for Rhode Island Episcopal Bishop W. Nicholas Knisely Jr. and Bishop Audrey Scanlan, of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania, who removed White from the priesthood.