Philly archdiocese puts a priest on leave – again

The Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia has suspended a Bucks County priest after new information surfaced about possible misconduct.

In both 2005 and 2011, the Rev. Louis Kolenkiewicz  was investigated for possible violations of the church’s standards of behavior and boundaries. In 2011, he was suspended from active ministry for three years.

The priest was most recently assigned to St. Bede the Venerable Parish in Holland Township, Bucks County, but officials say the new information stems from the 2005 case.

A statement from the archdiocese said the case does not involve illegal physical contact.

David Clohessy, director of SNAP, the Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests, said this kind of sequence is not unusual.

“Quite frankly, we should not be surprised to see these kinds of cases where priests get suspended and put back on the job,” he said, “because when no one is disciplined for putting kids in harm’s way, bishops will continue to put kids in harm’s way.”

The archdiocese said in response that it feels the statement released in this case provided adequate information to the parish community and the public at large.

This is a corrected version of the story. An earlier story made an inaccurate reference to a Philadelphia grand jury report about problematic behavior by Catholic priests.