The current bishop of Nevada, the Rt. Rev. Dan Edwards defends his predecessor in Nevada and current Presiding Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, against charges that she mishandled the case of a former priest, the Rev. Bede Parry, who is now accused of sexual abuse.
Episcopal Church defends top bishop’s record in abuse case
The Episcopal Church is rejecting charges that its top leader, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, mishandled the ordination of a former priest who is now accused of sexual abuse.
Jefferts Schori has remained silent on the matter, which surfaced after an alleged victim filed suit last month against a Benedictine monastery in Missouri where the priest, the Rev. Bede Parry, once lived.
Parry, a former Catholic monk, was ordained as an Episcopal priest in Nevada in 2004, when Jefferts Schori was the local bishop before her 2006 election as presiding bishop.
Her successor in Nevada, Bishop Dan Edwards, said Tuesday (July 5) that a thorough review of church records shows that Jefferts Schori “handled the situation perfectly appropriately.”
“The spin on this, that Bishop Katharine failed to follow the rules to protect children, is highly ironic,” said Edwards, who noted that the Diocese of Nevada has wrestled with problems of clergy misconduct. “She has done more to clean up this diocese than anybody.”
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The civil suit [against the Roman Catholics, not The Episcopal Church,] contends that the results of [the Catholics’] psychological testing in 2000 showed that Parry was a serial abuser who was likely to offend again, and that this information was shared with the Episcopal Church prior to his ordination. “I’m really skeptical that the report ever existed. But if it did, we’ve never seen it,” said Edwards.