Archbishop’s Letter on Sex Abuse to Be Read at Sunday Mass in Denver
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DENVER — Archbishop Charles Chaput, a leading conservative in the Roman Catholic Church, has written a letter to be read from pulpits on Palm Sunday addressing the scandal of sexual abuse by priests, his office said Friday.
Greg Kail, spokesman for the archbishop, declined to discuss any details in the letter that was being sent to 150 parishes in the Denver area.
The archdiocese sent a fax Wednesday to parishes in the 380,000-member archdiocese telling priests the archbishop’s letter is expected to replace the homily, or sermon, at Sunday’s Mass.
The letter follows a meeting this week between Denver Dist. Atty. Bill Ritter and church officials about reporting child abuse cases.
Chaput addressed the issue in the archdiocese’s newspaper, the Denver Catholic Register, saying that sexual misconduct by lay employees or clergymen was a “grave sin” and that church officials must act on allegations quickly.
On Thursday, Pope John Paul II broke his silence, saying priests who molest children carry out the worst form of evil.
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