UNITED STATES
The Media Report (blog)
December 28, 2020
Kudos to Msgr. Joseph P. Kelly of the Diocese of Scranton (Pennsylvania) for fighting back!
After the Diocese of Scranton created a “Survivors Fund” to dole out free cash to anyone who says they were abused by a priest, no matter how long ago, a group of imprisoned felons came forward to claim that Kelly abused them some 45 years ago. Back then, a court had appointed the accusers as troubled teens to attend a school for boys that Kelly once directed.
The diocese somehow determined that the accusations were “credible” (whatever that means). But Kelly has not only vehemently declared his innocence, he has also issued a scathing statement denouncing the entire process leading to his removal from ministry.
A recent issue (pdf) of The Catholic Light, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Scanton, featured Kelly’s broadside against a system in which easy loot is handed out to convicted criminals while an accused priest is not even afforded the opportunity to defend himself.
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