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Two area priests defrocked over sex abuse allegations
Schoettmer was registered sex offender who pastored in Cincinnati; Unwin was pastor in Tipp City.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Two more area priests — Richard Unwin and Kenneth Schoettmer — have been defrocked by the Vatican after being credibly accused of sexually abusing boys.
Both priests are now off the payroll of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
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In 2003, Schoettmer, now 65, pleaded guilty in Cincinnati to a charge that he fondled a 17-year-old boy and received five years' probation. Schoettmer, on paid leave from the archdiocese since 2001, is a registered sex offender.
Schoettmer of Cincinnati told officials that he didn't want it to be reported that he had voluntarily sought laicization, the church's term for defrocking, said archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco.
Kristine Ward, who chairs the Dayton chapter of the lay reform group Voice of the Faithful, said Schoettmer's defrocking was overdue. "Common sense, it seems, should have rocketed the case of a sex offender to the top of the Vatican's piles of cases," she said.
Unwin, 54, of Troy formerly was pastor of Tipp City's St. John the Baptist parish. He voluntarily requested laicization, Andriacco said. Unwin had been on paid leave since 2003.
The Vatican's actions leave eight priests in the 19-county Cincinnati archdiocese, which includes the Miami Valley, on paid leave while awaiting possible defrocking.
