The Catholic Church says the former popular pastor of the Church of St. Charles Borromeo will serve a quote life of prayer an penance. What they say is fitting punishment for his alleged molestation of 10 boys decades ago. Alfred Flint’s family attends St. Charles.
http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html
Harris was at a one time rising star in the Catholic Church. He was the highest-ranking African American priest in the NY archdiocese.
He gave invocations for former Governor David Paterson and arranged for the Pope’s record mass at Yankee Stadium. But then two men came forward to say that Harris molested them in the 1980’s as teenagers in the Church’s Cathedral Predatory High School.
When the news broke it sent shock waves through this community. Many here refused to believe that Harris was capable of what he had been accused of. But then in 2008, several more men including a retired New
York police office came forward with claims that Harris molested them as
children.
Harris stepped down as pastor and disappeared from public life. New York prosecutors investigated the allegations but decided not to charge Harris because the legal statute of limitations had expired.
The Catholic Church could have chosen to expel Harris but picked a lesser punishment that keeps him in the order as a priest even though he is not allowed to ever publicly serve as one.
Mary Caplan counsels victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests. She heads the New York Chapter of a nationwide support group for survivors.
The action comes on the heels of the Catholic church spending millions to settle allegations of child abuse by priests all over the world.
In a statement, The New York Archdiocese says that Harris is living in a upstate Catholic facility, that is not near any families and is under quote “Very close supervision and his activities will be monitored from here on” Not enough for some here who feel if he’s guilty of hurting children he shouldn’t be a priest at all.
