Collared-Falsely: Not every priest is rightly accused.(catholic church scandal)

'This is like affirmative-action time for victims," says one frustrated Catholic priest. "The attitude seems to be that because the Church discriminated against victims [of clergy sexual abuse] in the past, they should make up for it by discriminating against priests now. Whatever happened to justice?"

Well might he ask. Take the case of an African priest who until recently was living and studying in the Washington, D.C., area. His story represents just one example of the kind of accusations to which any priest in this country is vulnerable in the present scandal-charged atmosphere.

While at home this summer, between school terms at Washington's John Paul II Institute, the priest received a letter from the academic dean informing him that a fellow student, an adult woman, had lodged a charge of sexual impropriety against him. The charge was filed with Paul S. Loverde, the bishop of Arlington, Va., in whose diocese the priest was residing during the academic term.

According to the woman's June 5 letter, the priest kissed her in her apartment, and tried to grope her as she struggled to escape. After wriggling free, the woman said, she "took him to a coffee shop to give him an opportunity to 'wake up' and apologize," which she claims he did not. "Before God, I swear that I am innocent," the African responded in a written statement to the dean. "I am ready to talk it over with [the woman] in your presence."

On September 6, the priest met in Arlington with the diocese's investigator. By the priest's account, his accuser had taken him to her apartment briefly to show him books and photographs. They went to a restaurant for tea, then parted. If he had made sexual advances, the priest asked, why would she have agreed to go for tea with him afterward?

After talking to character witnesses and others, Bishop Loverde issued a ruling on September 13. In a letter to the priest, Loverde stated that "there is inadequate evidence to dismiss the allegation as unfounded. While I understand that you denied any inappropriate behavior, I have not been provided adequate evidence to substantiate your claim." Though the priest had never been allowed to confront his accuser (and though, by Bishop Loverde's own admission, she had not proved her case), the bishop judged him unfit to live in Arlington-a finding allowed under canon law because the African was not formally a priest of his diocese.

In a statement provided to National Review, the African, whose academic career at the institute is effectively over, denounced the investigation as a "sham" and criticized the diocese and the John Paul II Institute for not defending him. "I am innocent, yet I am being treated as if I am guilty," he protested.