NCR's Joe Feuerherd reports on the issue of due process for priests who are accused of sexual abuse.

Four years ago, an adult woman informed her local diocese that arecently ordained priest had groped her. No criminal or civil chargeswere filed, but the initial investigation showed that the accusationwas plausible that it could have happened, recalled Father MichaelSullivan, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., a priest and canon lawyer whopreviously served as judicial vicar in the Crookston, Minn., Diocese.

Adiocesan review board, said Father Sullivan, eventually determined thatthe accusation was a trumped-up charge. The priest, said FatherSullivan, had spurned her affections, informing her that Im acelibate and were not going there.

Still, said Father Sullivan, the bishop rejected the review boardsdetermination and did not allow the priest to return to publicministry. The priest has appealed the bishops ruling, but the case,said Father Sullivan, is swallowed up in Rome. The priest currentlyreceives no pay or medical benefits from the diocese, said FatherSullivan.

The details differ from case to case, but its a story Father Sullivansays he has heard countless times. Due process for priests accused ofabuse, he said, is a sham.

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