MAINE
Morning Sentinel
BY KATE MCCORMICK
MORNING SENTINEL
WATERVILLE — A week after the sudden removal of Rev. Larry Jensen, longtime priest at St. Joseph Maronite Catholic Church on Appleton Street, parishioners struggle to reconcile the allegations that led to his ouster with the man they came to know over the last decade.
Jensen, 62, was relieved of his duties last week following a “substantiated” allegation of sexual abuse of a minor 15 years ago in Connecticut, according to Michael Thomas, vicar general of the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn, New York. On a cold, rainy Sunday, members of the St. Joseph’s congregation expressed shock and sadness over Jensen’s abrupt departure.
“He wasn’t just a standoffish priest,” said Margaret May Lambert, who, along with her mother, has attended St. Joseph’s since 2013. “He was family to a lot of us.”
Little is known about the accusations against Jensen except that the alleged male victim was 17 years old at the time of the incident and did not attend the St. Anthony Maronite Catholic Church in Danbury, Conn., where Jensen served for eight years before coming to Waterville, according to Thomas. When confronted about the alleged abuse, Jensen neither admitted nor denied it, though he did say this was an isolated incident. As of last week, Thomas said he had received no additional sexual abuse complaints regarding Jensen.
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