TEXAS
San Antonio Express-News
By Elaine Ayala
August 22, 2016
A national organization leading efforts to expose the sexual abuse of children by priests has turned its attention to the Archdiocese of San Antonio for giving refuge to a Chicago priest removed from ministry last fall for an “inappropriate relationship with an adult man.”
Now at a South Side parish and seeking a formal transfer to the archdiocese here, Father Marco Mercado has been assigned to hospital ministry but his duties might expand in the future, according to a statement Monday from Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller.
“Father Marco Antonio Lopez Mercado, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, is in residence at St. Lawrence Church in San Antonio,” the statement said.
“Following his removal from ministry in his last assignment in Chicago, we have conducted our own independent review of the facts and, following that effort, as well as the counseling Father Marco has undertaken and his acceptance of responsibility in the situation in question, we are satisfied that he is suitable for ministry here,” García-Siller’s statement said.
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