Ex-Franciscan leaders charged with aiding sexual predator

Three former leaders of a Franciscan religious order in Pennsylvania have been charged over allowing a friar who was a known sexual predator to repeatedly work with children, including as a high school athletic trainer who massaged students naked.

The complaint, heard on Tuesday, was the first time members of a Roman Catholic religious order have been charged with aiding an abuser. While the church has faced thousands of lawsuits over sexual abuse by members of the clergy in the past decade, criminal prosecutions of the supervisors accused of covering up for abusers have been rare.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/ex-franciscan-leaders-charged-with-aiding-sexual-predator-1.2575609