So there’s this Catholic priest in Illinois who’s been accused of sexually abusing a boy of 14 and was removed from his ministry because of the accusation. There’s this bishop who is letting him go back to just a little bit of ministering because 14 is old enough to say yes to the priest’s overtures.
The bishop says Rome has decided that at the time Ryan allegedly molested a teen[ager], what he did was not considered a serious crime by the Church according to Church law at the time. For that reason, Conlon ruled, Ryan could not be moved from ministry altogether.
The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests says Church law at the time actually said a 14-year-old was at an age of consent.
Ah Church law. Well that’s all that counts, isn’t it. Wait.
Just fancy: Bishop Conlon is head of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ committee on sexual abuse.