Episcopal head Jefferts Schori answers critics on abusive priest

From The Washington Post-

The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church on Thursday (Nov. 17) defended her decision to allow a former Roman Catholic monk to become an Episcopal priest even after he admitted to sexual misconduct with a minor.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori has been under increasing pressure to answer charges that she did not properly investigate the Rev. Bede Parry’s past when she was bishop of Nevada in 2004.

Jefferts Schori said she knew of only one incident when Parry, now 69, sought ordination as an Episcopal priest. She also said that Parry passed a background check and a psychological evaluation before he was ordained.

After ordination, she said, Parry was supervised by another priest and not permitted to work alone with children.

“I made the decision to receive him,” Jefferts Schori said in a statement, “believing that he demonstrated repentance and amendment of life and that his current state did not represent a bar to his reception.”

More here-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/episcopal-head-jefferts-schori-answers-critics-on-abusive-priest/2011/11/17/gIQA0onWVN_story.html

Also here- ENS with statement link.

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_130523_ENG_HTM.htm