The Vatican defrocked a former priest in the Diocese of Scranton for sexually abusing a child, a move that permanently ends his time as a priest.
Christopher R. Clay, 62, was dispensed from the clerical state effective July 24 following credible accusations of sexual abuse of a minor, diocese officials announced this month.
The diocese removed him as chaplain and theology teacher at Bishop Hafey High School in Hazle Twp. in 2002, amid a criminal investigation in Monroe County of alleged sexual misconduct involving a teenage boy. At the time of the alleged incident in 1998, the priest was associated with the Newman House oratory in Mount Pocono.
The accusation arose from a federal lawsuit filed by a man who said he was sexually abused as a high school student by two other priests, Carlos Urrutigoity and Eric Ensey, who were members of the Society of St. John. The society, of which Clay was a founding member, was a traditionalist Catholic community that had a compound in Shohola Twp., Pike County. Pocono Mountain Regional Police investigated but never charged Clay, who maintained his innocence.
The diocese paid $380,000 to settle the case.
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