Maine bishop appeals ecclesial tribunal’s acquittal of priest
January 08, 2009
Bishop Richard Malone of Portland has appealed to the Vatican an ecclesiastical tribunal’s decision that abuse allegations against Father Thomas Lee, now 81, were unproven. Father Lee was removed from ministry in 2003.
The alleged incidents took place at a parish where Father Lee served between 1971 and 1985. The ecclesiastical tribunal, whose three members were from outside the diocese, was established in 2006 and ruled last year that while Father Lee’s actions were “imprudent,” abuse was not proven. In appealing the tribunal’s decision to the Vatican, Bishop Malone said he was “stunned and disappointed at the outcome of this case and frustrated that the process has taken so long.” Parishioners at the parish where Father Lee served from 1985 to 2003 are “100% standing behind” their former pastor, according to one. On the other hand, a cofounder of the Maine chapter of Voice of the Faithful said, “By not telling the entire truth about the number of allegations the diocese has received against Father Thomas Lee, you are encouraging the Boothbay Harbor community to continue to believe that Lee is innocent because they believe that the ‘more than two’ victims who reported their abuse by Lee are lying.”
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