IRELAND
Irish Independent
SARAH MACDONALD – PUBLISHED 18 APRIL 2014
An Irish priest who was expelled from the priesthood in 2004 by Pope John Paul II for abusing children in the US has been excommunicated by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin.
The Archbishop imposed the church’s most serious sanction on Clive Lynn in February when it emerged that the former priest was refusing to abide by the terms of his dismissal, which prevented him presenting himself as a priest.
It is the first excommunication imposed by the Archbishop in his 10 years as leader of the largest diocese in Ireland.
A spokeswoman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin told the Irish Independent that no live sexual abuse complaint against Lynn exists in Dublin, otherwise the matter would have been referred to gardai. “He never served as a priest in Ireland,” the spokeswoman added.
A series of allegations have been made in the US parishes in which he served in the 1970s and 1980s.
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