The Diocese of Scranton has reassigned a priest removed from his previous assignment for accidentally displaying questionable photographs of men at a Church event. According to 13 May 2010 edition of The Catholic Light, the newspaper for the Diocese of Scranton, announced (on page 3) that Reverend Edward Lyman has been assigned as “Senior Priest” “from Leave of Absence for reasons of health”, to Holy Name/Saint Mary and Holy Trinity Parishes, Swoyersville, Pennsylvania effective April 28, 2010.
Father Lyman had been previously assigned as administrator of St. Anthony, St. Bridget and St. John the Baptist parishes in Throop. According to an article in the Scranton Times Tribune, Father Lyman was removed after he displayed inappropriate, although not pornographic, photos while trying to set up a DVD related to the Diocese’s fund-raising efforts. The photos were displayed at St Bridget’s church before 8 a.m. mass on October 25, 2009.
The diocese, which has used the “absence for reasons of health” line before in cases where inappropriate or sexual misconduct was discovered, has seemingly reinstated this man to a position where he will be able to have close, personal contact with children.
Once again, the Diocese of Scranton has played a waiting game and hoped that no one would notice it has returned a priest very questionable behavior back in the line of duty. Do you need more proof of how seriously the Diocese takes cases of sexual misconduct?
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“from Leave of Absence for reasons of health” is the same statement they made here in St. Louis when my perp Fr. Norman H. Christian was being investigated by the St. Louis County Police Dept. in 2003. Actually in 1996 he was “removed from active ministry”. You need a decoder ring to know what they are really saying.
It appears that Father Lyman “outed” himself. However, just because he may find adult men to be attractive this has nothing to do with any contact with children. Perhaps when he was put of a leave of absence, his superiors investigated to see if he had any inappropriate behavior with children. If something had been found, he surely would have been permanently removed. Just because a person is a homosexual, does not make them a pedophile. Most pedophiles are heterosexuals. It would be good if priests could be open about their sexual orientation as this would probably be healthier for them but since there is so much prejudice against gay people, most gay priests probably don’t feel comfortable being open about this.
Was Father Edward Lyons ever a Priest at St. Joseph’s Church in Friendsville/Choconut PA in Susquehanna County?