WORCESTER (MA)
International Business Times
By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | March 6, 2013
A priest blesses the coffin of Honda MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli during his funeral service at a church in Coriano October 27, 2011. Simoncelli, 24, was killed during the Grand Prix race at Sepang on October 23 when he lost control of his bike and was struck by fellow riders Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi.
Mr Kane and Mr Shauris voluntarily offered to “laicize” or defrock themselves, which now retired Pope Benedict XVI accepted and approved before his actual resignation took effect on Feb. 28. The Vatican’s Congregation of the Faith, meanwhile, decided to oust Mr Blizard from the priesthood.
Although all three have been removed from ministry for nearly two decades, it was only late last year that the Diocese of Worcester in Central Massachusetts decided to defrock the priests as the diocese had to entertain individual appeals made against the three in the course of investigation.
Mr Blizard was removed in 1988 from ministry work by Bishop Timothy Harrington when allegations of sexual abuse lodged against him, that occurred during the 1970s and 1980s, seemed credible. Mr Blizard became priest in 1974. He served in the parishes of St. Roch in Oxford, Our Lady Immaculate in Athol, Christ the King in Worcester and Holy Angels in Upton, all located in Central Massachusetts.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.