Former Salt Lake Catholic Bishop William Weigand is among the U.S. bishops whom the Dallas Morning News said Wednesday has protected priests accused of sexual abuse.
The alleged coverup took place in Sacramento, where Bishop Weigand has served since leaving Salt Lake City in 1994.
The allegations say that Bishop Weigand allowed the three accused priests to continue in their jobs. It also said the diocese paid $350,000 in 2000 to the accuser of one priest to drop a lawsuit against him.
According to the Dallas paper, a spokesman for the Sacramento diocese said that the allegations against the three priests "were not sustainable."
A spokesman for the Sacramento diocese did not return calls from the Deseret News.
On Tuesday, Bishop George Niederauer of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, who succeeded Bishop Weigand in 1994, announced that three Utah priests accused of child sexual abuse will be relieved of their duties. Although the alleged abuse happened at least nine years ago, possibly on Bishop Weigand's watch, the church found out about the allegations against the priests within the past two years, Niederauer said.
Monsignor Terrence Fitzgerald of the Salt Lake diocese described Bishop Weigand as straightforward and honest, saying that when allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced, the bishop "kept nothing secretive.""That is not the Bishop Weigand I know," said the Rev. Fitzgerald about the Dallas Morning News report. The Rev. Fitzgerald served as vicar general under Bishop Weigand during his time in Utah.
If allegations against a priest were not sustainable, he said, Bishop Weigand would have issued the priest a warning that "if something happens in the future, you're dead." To a priest's accuser, the Rev. Fitzgerald said, Bishop Weigand would have said "if you can prove it, prove it." He would not have condoned the diocese paying money to keep a case from going to court, the Rev. Fitzgerald said.
The Salt Lake diocese's sexual misconduct and abuse policy was drafted in 1990 by Bishop Weigand, according to diocese spokeswoman Monica Howa-Johnson. That policy calls for prompt response "to any credible allegation" and prompt removal of the accused from any church ministry, prompt reporting of the allegations and offer of "appropriate help" to victims and their families.
According to a story in Wednesday's Sacramento Bee about additional accusations of sexual abuse by priests in the Sacramento area, Bishop Weigand responded to those allegations, holding meetings with families and publicly appealing for more victims to come forward.
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