When is a priest not a priest? When he’s molesting a child, diocese says in defense of lawsuit

NCR

Mark Mueller The Star-Ledger  |  Jun. 4, 2014

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Chris Naples says something snapped inside him that January day.
The New Jersey resident sat in the gallery of the Delaware Supreme Court earlier this year watching as a lawyer for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton N.J., told the justices that the Rev. Terence McAlinden was not “on duty” — or serving in his capacity as a priest — when he allegedly molested Naples on trips to Delaware in the 1980s.

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McAlinden, who once headed the diocese’s youth group, had introduced himself to Naples at a church-sponsored leadership retreat in Keyport, N.J.
Yet McAlinden wasn’t officially a priest when he took a teenage Naples on trips to Delaware, the lawyer argued.
http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/when-priest-not-priest-when-he-s-molesting-child-diocese-says-defense-lawsuit