JOIN USMonsignor Charles M Kavanagh was dismissed from the priesthood following the decision on Wednesday by the tribunal, which was acting on authority from the Vatican, CNN quoted a statement from the Catholic Archdiocese of New York. The accuser, a former seminary student of Kavanagh’s, brought the case to the Manhattan district attorney in 2002.
Between July 2002 and July 2003 the district attorney’s office worked closely with the Archdiocese and found the allegations to be credible. Following an initial investigation, Kavanagh’s priestly faculties were removed, Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the New York diocese, said.
Kavanagh was instructed not to engage in any active ministry or even appear to be a priest, the report said.
Kavanagh requested a canonical trial as approved by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, according to Zwilling.