ILLINOIS
The Doings
BY BOB OKON | bokon@stmedianetwork.com May 1, 2013
An advocacy group for victims of pedophile priests wants Catholic bishops to force priests who are removed from ministry because of abuse allegations to be confined in residential treatment centers.
But a spokesman for the Joliet Diocese said that would be an exercise of authority that a bishop does not have over such priests.
The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is calling for closer control of abusive priests — citing the case of a Joliet Diocese priest who has been living in Kentucky for more than 30 years and engaging in at least informal missionary work without being monitored, years after being removed from the ministry.
“If a bishop can insist that a priest not marry, not lobby for the death penalty, not lobby for Planned Parenthood or work anywhere other than where the bishop tells him he can work, it’s within the bishop’s power to tell him where he can live,” SNAP national director David Clohessy said.
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