FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 1, 2012 

 
STATEMENT OF JOSEPH  ZWILLING: UPDATE ON CHARLES KAVANAGH

Joseph Zwilling, Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of New York, released the following statement on May 1, 2012, concerning Charles Kavanagh.

“It has come to the attention of the Archdiocese that the victim in the Charles Kavanagh case has changed one of his claims, specifically concerning an overnight trip to Washington, D.C. during the victim’s senior year of high school.

It should be noted that Mr. Kavanagh was found guilty by a church court of multiple counts of sexual abuse of a minor, and that this particular trip to Washington was not the basis for the court’s decision.  Changing this one fact will not have any bearing on the court’s ruling, or on its penalty that Mr. Kavanagh be removed from the priesthood and returned to the lay state.

We have shared this statement with the victim in the case, who has agreed to its release, as well as with Mr. Kavanagh’s attorneys.”                                                                                            

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