NEW JERSEY
The Record
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
Two priests in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark who were accused of molesting children have been stripped of their collars, according to church officials.
In August, the archdiocese announced in its online newspaper that Horacio Daniel Medina and Richard J. Mieliwocki were no longer priests. A Vatican tribunal arrived at the conclusions this summer after going through a lengthy process called laicization, said Jim Goodness, an archdiocese spokesman.
Medina was accused in 2004 of having oral sex with an 8-year-old boy in the sacristy of Blessed Sacrament Church in Elizabeth. The archdiocese removed him from ministry after his arrest. He pleaded guilty to child endangerment in 2006 and was sentenced to probation.
In 2008, victims’ advocacy groups found a memo that the archdiocese sent to bishops around the country alerting them of Medina’s status and that he could not be found.
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