KENTUCKY
Herald-Leader
By Josh Kegley — jkegley@herald-leader.com
A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington to investigate and punish a priest suspended over sex abuse allegations. The priest is living in McCreary County.
David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), recently sent a letter to Lexington Bishop Ronald Gainer asking that the diocese take action against Carroll Howlin, a Roman Catholic priest living in Whitley City who was suspended by the Joliet, Ill., diocese on accusations of abusing teenage boys.
“We want you to take real steps — now — to get this suspended, credibly accused serial predator priest away from children,” the letter said.
However, a spokesman for the Lexington diocese said there was little it could do, since Howlin was employed and suspended by a different diocese.
“He’s not an employee of the Diocese of Lexington, nor is he a priest of the Diocese of Lexington,” spokesman Tom Shaughnessy said.
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