Catholic World News News Feature
Ordination scratched for former head of suppressed group May 30, 2007
The Paterson, Pennyslvania diocese has decided against proceeding with the priestly ordination of a deacon who formerly headed the suppressed Society of St. John.
Deacon Joseph Levine was the superior general of the Society of St. John before the order was suppressed by Scranton's Bishop Joseph Martino in 2004. Although not personally accused of immoral conduct, Levine was charged with covering up evidence of sexual abuse by his predecessors in the group's leadership.
The report that Levine would be ordained to the priesthood in Paterson, New Jersey, drew a strong reaction from critics of the Society of St. John, questioning whether a former head of the suppressed order could be a proper candidate for the priesthood. A spokesman for the Paterson diocese said that Church leaders there had concluded, after their own "discernment process," that the deacon should not be ordained as a priest. Levine contines to be a deacon in the Paterson diocese.
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