Apropos of an earlier discussion, many priests are unhappy with the lack of due process for accusations. The illustrative case here is that of Msgr. Charles Kavanagh of New York who was accused of a sexual relationship with a high-school seminarian 20 years ago. Many of his supporters say that since he was suspended in the summer of 2002 he hasn’t gotten his fair due process.
t was in August of last year that Egan told Kavanagh that an archdiocesan review board of laypeople had determined that Kavanagh had, in fact, had an improper relationship with a student 20 years earlier. Kavanagh says he was denied the panel’s written findings or any information about how the decision was reached. Instead, he says, Egan asked him to resign.
“They wanted me to go away,” Kavanagh said during an interview with The Journal News yesterday. “But I’m not going anywhere. I’m not going to hide.”
Instead, Kavanagh has appealed to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Unfortunately the CDF is so overwhelmed with appeals that the cases take forever.
