IOWA
National Catholic Reporter
Barb Arland-Fye Catholic News Service | Jul. 1, 2016 NCR Today
DAVENPORT, IOWA
Fr. John Stack, a priest of the Davenport Diocese, celebrated his reinstatement to active ministry with his first public Mass in 38 months on Father’s Day, June 19, at the Clinton nursing home where his late father once resided.
A church trial outside the diocese found that accusations of clergy sexual abuse against Stack were not proved. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith concurred with the trial judges’ finding and Davenport Bishop Martin J. Amos announced Stack’s reinstatement June 15.
“I just felt that the Lord and the Blessed Mother were always close to me. I felt God was telling me, ‘you are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek,'” Stack told The Catholic Messenger, the diocesan newspaper. He can’t reveal details about the accusations, but said he holds no animosity toward his accusers.
Stack recalls the day — April 20, 2013 — when he learned about accusations against him. The previous day, Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago honored Stack and other alumni of the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois, celebrating their 25th anniversary as priests.
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