PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
A priest who is also a lawyer and expert on Catholic church law told a Philadelphia jury today that canon law requires bishops to investigate and bring to trial by church tribunal allegations of sex abuse of minors.
Thomas P. Doyle, a Dominican priest who said he has studied and consulted with church officials since the first sex-abuse case involving minors erupted in 1984 in Louisiana, was called by city prosecutors to explain to the Common Pleas Court jury the arcane elements of Catholic theology and canon law.
Doyle rebutted several popular misconceptions about church law involving wayward priests. He said bishops who do not investigate and try allegations of sex-abuse of minors could themselves be prosecuted under church law.
Doyle testified that canon law requires priests, bishops and other clerics to obey the law of the country in which the church is located – except in cases where a municipal law would violate an absolute church or moral teaching.
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