The "other scapegoat" in the sex abuse crisis

[Blessedwithfive]

What about the holy priests who have been falsely accused of sexual abuse/misconduct. Will they ever get a fair trail. I personally know of a case where an adult woman accused a priest of misconduct (when she was an adult) and the “misconduct” did not involve sexual intercourse, or kissing, but rather she claims she felt uncomfortable and that Fr. touched her breasts. He denies the claim. She is unstable, yet the Archdiocese has deemed her credible. They never did an investigation, but put the priest on leave. Will he ever get a fair trial? It has been years but the Archdiocese seems to be willing to sacrifice the priest to avoid a “scandal”. The way I see it the scandal is not investigating the claim and letting the truth come to light. Now with the homosexual/child scandal I just don’t see how he can get a fair shake.

Is there anything we can do?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

You can pray for the priest and his accuser and ask God that justice be done. Understanding of course that sometimes it isn’t done in this world.

Jesus was falsely accused of a lot of things too

 

[tseleehw]

There probably isn’t anything you can do, other than pray. He may be innocent, but especially in the current climate most bishops aren’t going to take a chance, understandably. The real test will be to see if the law gets involved with this. Even if they don’t, due to lack of evidence, or whatever, there is no guarantee that he will return. Priests have been removed from their positions permanently for less than this. Hopefully the truth comes out, but unless there’s more evidence than his word against hers a satisfactory conclusion may never be reached.