Community Corner

Inquirer: Richboro Priest Among Those Placed on Leave

A priest at St. Vincent de Paul Rectory is among those being investigated after a Philadelphia grand jury report.

A priest at in Richboro is among 21 priests placed on administrative leave while the Philadelphia Archdiocese investigates allegations including child sexual abuse, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Rev. George B. Cadwallader is one of those placed on leave, the newspaper reported Wednesday.

The Archdiocese has not confirmed the names of the 21 men who are being investigated, but other news sources have reported the same names.

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The details revealed Wednesday follow Cardinal Justin Rigali's announcement Tuesday that 21 of 37 priests named in a Philadelphia grand jury investigation have been removed from active ministry, pending investigation.

"These have been difficult weeks since the release of the Grand Jury Report: difficult most of all for victims of sexual abuse, but also for all Catholics and for everyone in our community," Rigali said in a statement.

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Cadawallader began his position as parochial vicar of St. Vincent de Paul Parish on June 15, 2009. Before that he was a special assistant priest for the Archdiocesan Office for Clergy, according to a cached page on the church's website.

He was raised in Philadelphia and was ordained in 1992 from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. He has also served as a parochial vicar at at St. Martin of Tours Parish at Oxford Circle, St. Anselm Parish in the Northeast and Stella Maris Parish in South Philadelphia.

The accusations against Cadawallader and the other priests come a month after a Philadelphia grand jury on Feb. 10 issued a scathing report into allegations that the church had covered up sexual assaults on young boys.

The grand jury investigated allegations that two priests and a teacher sexually abused a 10-year-old boy at St. Jerome Parish, Philadelphia, and that another priest at St. Jerome sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy.

The grand jury recommended criminal charges of rape and indecent sexual assault against the three priests, Edward Avery, Charles Engelhardt, and James Brennan, and the teacher, Bernard Shero, according to the Philadelphia district attorney's office.

It also recommended charging church official Monsignor William J. Lynn with endangering the welfare of a child, for "knowingly allowing dangerous priests to continue in ministry," the district attorney's office said.

As Catholics around the area marked the beginning of Lent Wednesday, a letter from Rigali to the faithful begged for forgiveness from God and reconciliation with the community.

"During this Lent we are especially conscious of the grave sins of sexual abuse committed against minors, in particular by members of the clergy," Rigali wrote. "We experience the need to ask God’s forgiveness repeatedly in our liturgy and to offer prayers of reparation for these sins and for all the sins of the world."

The Archdiocese has hired Gina Maisto Smith, a lawyer with the Philadelpha firm of Ballard Spahr and a former child abuse prosecturo, to investigate the 37 priests in the grand jury report.

Rigali said he placed the 21 priests on leave based on Smith's initial finding, in addition to the three priests placed on leave in February after the report first came out.

"I want to be clear: These administrative leaves are interim measures," Rigali said in a statement. "They are not in any way final determinations or judgments. Mrs. Smith will now lead a team of experts to investigate more fully each case."

Of the remaining priests, Rigali said Smith found no further investigation into eight of them was warranted. Five additional priests would have been subject to administrative leave, he said, but one already was on leave, two are "incapacitated" and have not been in active ministry, and two no longer serve in the Philadelphia Archdiocese but are members of religious orders. Rigali said the Archdiocese notified the superiors of the orders and the bishops of the dioceses where those two priests live now.


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