Suspended priest returns to ministry
The Vatican has reinstated a priest suspended in 2002 over allegations of sexual misconduct and will allow him to return to active ministry after undergoing counseling, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati said.
Father James Kiffmeyer was accused of abusing two students in 1990 and around 1986. The students reported the allegations in 1997 and 2002.
Kiffmeyer was placed on paid leave and appealed to the Vatican, which ruled the students waited too long. Under church law, there is five-year limit for making such accusations, the archdiocese said.
A spokeswoman for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests expressed outrage at the Vatican decision.
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