The Stockton Diocese addressed parishioners over the weekend about news reports that it had begun paying retirement benefits to a defrocked priest who admitted molesting dozens of children.
In a rare move, Bishop Stephen Blaire asked priests to share a statement from him during weekend Masses about Oliver O’Grady, who was deported to his native Ireland in 2000 after serving time for two molestations, The Modesto Bee reported.
Blaire said in the statement that he agreed to the deal because it was the only way to get O’Grady to seek laicization, since defrocking at the time was a long and uncertain process. He said he found the deal “very distasteful” but wanted to make sure “he not walk out of prison as a priest.”
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