Archdiocese: Ex-pastor found with porn hasn't been defrocked

By Maura Grunlund
Staten Island Advance
April 5, 2016

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/04/church_no_abuse_allegations_ag.html

Father Keith Fennessy is shown in a 2008 photo during mass at St. Margaret Mary's Church, Midland Beach.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Archdiocese of New York has not taken steps to permanently remove the Rev. Keith Fennessy from the priesthood, despite its allegations that the former Staten Island pastor was caught with child pornography that violates the church's own safeguards to protect children.

The archdiocese defended the handling of its case against Father Fennessy, an ordained priest since 1984 who headed St. Margaret Mary R.C. Church in Midland Beach from 2006 to June 2010.

Catholic New York said that the pornography was found on Father Fennessy's computer.

He served as pastor of St. Columba's parish in Manhattan from 2011 until June 15, 2015, when he was removed from ministry after the pornographic material was discovered, according to Catholic New York.

Joseph Zwilling, communications director for the archdiocese, confirmed that "the images were of minors."

Zwilling stressed in a statement supplied to the Advance that Father Fennessy "will never again be permitted to function as a priest."

However, the archdiocese has not yet decided whether it will ask the Vatican to defrock Father Fennessy.

"It is still under discussion and consideration," Zwilling said.

"He continues to live in a supervised setting, as he has since his removal from his assignment, while a decision is reached about whether or not he will be returned to the lay state."

Zwilling said that "there have been no individuals to come forward to allege that Father Fennessy abused them." If there are any victims, they should contact the district attorney and the Archdiocese's victims assistant coordinators, he said.

"We found that Fr. Fennessy was in possession of pornographic material that was in violation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," Zwilling said.  "We turned that over to the District Attorney, and removed Fr. Fennessy from ministry immediately."

Zwilling told the Advance the archdiocese contacted the district attorneys' offices in both Staten Island and Manhattan.

The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People is a set of procedures that were established in 2002 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.

Father Fennessy had served as pastor of St. Margaret Mary Church from 2006 to June 2010, when he left the parish amid a controversy over a proposed sale that fell through with the Muslim American Society. Under the proposal, the former parish convent house would have been converted into a mosque.

The complete statement by Zwilling is as follows:

"The facts are very clear: We found that Fr. Fennessy was in possession of pornographic material that was in violation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.  We turned that over to the District Attorney, and removed Fr. Fennessy from ministry immediately.
 
"While this is a very serious offense and crime, which I do not wish to minimize it in any way, I do want to stress that there have been no individuals to come forward to allege that Fr. Fennessy abused them.  If any person has such an allegation, we urge them to go immediately to the District Attorney to report it, and to report it to our Victims Assistance Coordinators.
 
"We also referred the matter to our own lay review board which studied the matter, found that Fr. Fennessy had violated the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, and therefore advised the Cardinal that Fr. Fennessy could never return to ministry.  The Cardinal accepted their recommendation, and he will never again be permitted to function as a priest.  He continues to live in a supervised setting, as he has since his removal from his assignment, while a decision is reached about whether or not he will be returned to the lay state.
 
"We put the information in Catholic New York as soon as the matter was resolved by the review board."