and they all lived happily ever after

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jan 19, 2005

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the problem that ceased to be a problem last February (according to the USCCB) is ceasing to be a problem more definitively every day.

Cardinal Edward Egan had received a subpoena that required him to provide sworn testimony next week about sex-abuse committed by one of his priests when he was head of the Bridgeport Diocese. A financial settlement was reached yesterday and the Cardinal will not have to testify.

Probably a coincidence.

In other news, the Diocese of Davenport announced that last October it settled a complaint of sexual abuse against one of its former priests, Lawrence Soens, for $20,000.

Sioux City diocese spokesman Jim Wharton defended Soens and said news of the allegations "shocks and saddens all of us." Timothy Bottaro, Soens' attorney, says that Soens has denied the allegations, but that since the matter is now before church authorities, he can make no comment.

Soens had become Bishop of Sioux City but in 1998 was obliged to retire early under the provisions of Canon 401-dash-2.

Probably a coincidence.