FORT WORTH (TX)
The Star-Telegram
August 8, 2018
By Nichole Manna
The attorney for a former Prosper priest who was asked to resign after writing a letter that Bishop Michael Olson deemed intimidating, manipulative and inappropriate says there was no justification for removing the Rev. Richard Kirkham from St. Martin de Porres parish.
Kirkham was also accused by Olson, bishop of the Fort Worth diocese, of not reporting knowledge he had of alleged sexual misconduct and predatory sexual harassment in the workplace regarding a Dallas-area priest.
In June, Olson learned that Kirkham wrote a letter to the Dallas-area priest threatening to turn him in for having an affair with a woman involved in that priest’s parish.
The letter includes explicit details of the priest’s alleged sexual preferences, the woman he was accused of having an affair with and details of the type of sex they reportedly had. The letter also alludes to the priest masturbating at his work desk and having problems with alcoholism.
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