PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times
By Patti Mengers, Delaware County Daily Times
POSTED: 02/23/14
Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput announced Sunday a priest who once taught at the former St. James Catholic High School for Boys in Chester is unsuitable for ministry because of a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor.
The Rev. John P. Paul, who taught at St. James and was on staff at the old St. Robert’s parish in Chester from 1986 to 1990, was removed from ministry because of a substantiated allegation that he sexually abused a 17-year old more than 40 years when he was a seminarian, according to a press release from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He was ordained in 1972.
Archdiocesan officials said that they had referred the 67-year old priest’s case to law enforcement authorities who, after a lengthy investigation, declined to prosecute. However, last Nov. 6, Paul was placed on administrative leave after he voluntarily resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary Church in Philadelphia where he had served since 2000.
Last November in a press release archdiocesan officials said that subsequent to Paul’s suspension “the archdiocese received multiple, new allegations that Father Paul had sexually abused minors over 30 years ago. These allegations were reported to the appropriate district attorney’s office.”
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