SPRINGFIELD (IL)
KHQA
SPRINGFIELD, ILL. — Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois has issued a statement regarding a Catholic priest on leave from his church after police found him handcuffed inside the church rectory in Springfield.
Bishop Paprocki said he was first informed of the incident on December 6th. “On December 8th, I met with Father Donovan and Monsignor Carl Kemme, my Vicar General, in my office at the Catholic Pastoral Center. Father Donovan said that he was mortified by what happened and acknowledged that the information that had been reported to me was basically accurate. He insisted that he had been alone the whole time of this incident and denied that there was any sexual component to this,” Bishop Paprocki wrote in the statement.
Bishop Paprocki granted Father Donovan a requested leave of absence and acknowledged in his statement that, with Father Donovan’s consent to disclose patient information, “he is being treated by a clinical therapist and is receiving appropriate medical care.”
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