If a bishop, priest or deacon is convicted of a criminal offence against children and is sentenced to serve a term of imprisonment of 12 months or more, then it would normally be right to initiate the process of laicisation. Failure to do so would need to be justified. Initiation of the process of laicisation may also be appropriate in other circumstances.
(Nolan, 2001, 3.5.32, p44).

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Friday, November 14, 2014

Canon Mortimer Stanley charged with 17 charges of indecent assault on a girl under 14

See http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/priest-charged-after-historic-sexual-8103605

Canon Mortimer Stanley returned from his home in Ireland to face the allegations at Bury Magistrates court on 13 November 2014
.
"The Crown Prosecution Service authorised Greater Manchester Police to charge Canon Stanley, 82, after numerous complaints by former pupils at a Rochdale school.
He is accused of 17 charges of indecent assault on a girl under 14 between 1977 and 1988.
The clergyman, who is now living in Ireland after retiring from St Vincent de Paul RC Church in Norden, was first quizzed by police last year.
The allegations involve ten victims. All the alleged victims were pupils at St Vincent’s Primary School, which has been historically linked to the parish.
Canon Stanley, who lives in Ballybunion, Kerry, had twice travelled to Greater Manchester to answer police questions before returning a third time to be charged.
The priest was originally interviewed in November last year, and he returned in May this year to be further interviewed under caution about the historic allegations.
Canon Stanley, who joined the church as a parish priest in 1972, retired to his native Ireland in 2002.”

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