SNAP 

The below list of Bishops is in no particular order.

Springfield, Ill. – Bishop Daniel Ryan took early retirement in 1999 after being accused of hiring teenage boy prostitutes and having sex with priests. A lawsuit has alleged that this activity created an atmosphere of toleration for child molestation. Bishop Ryan, who remains in ministry in the Diocese of Springfield, had denied wrongdoing. A review board recently completed an investigation into the allegations and have forwarded the results to Rome where it is under review by Vatican authorities.

Argentina - Archbishop Edgardo Storni resigned after mounting pressure from juducial investigations that he had sexually abused teenaged seminary students. 

Lexington, Ky. – Bishop Kendrick Williams resigned, several weeks after three men accused him of abuse in the 1980s. A lawsuit alleged that he molested a 12-year-old altar boy while serving as a priest in the nearby Louisville archdiocese in 1981; fondled a high school student; and made sexual comments to a third plaintiff during a counseling session. Bishop Williams, 65, denied the allegations and said he was stepping aside for the good of his diocese and the church. 

New York – Bishop James F. McCarthy resigned his positions as a church pastor and auxiliary bishop after admitting he had several affairs with women. His admissions came after the archdiocese received a letter Saturday revealing the affairs. 

Milwaukee – Archbishop Rembert Weakland resigned after admitting that he tried to buy the silence of a former seminary student who accused him of sexual assault. Archbishop Weakland acknowledged an affair with the man but denied abuse. He initially said he had given the archdiocese more than enough money to cover the $450,000 secret settlement, then later acknowledged otherwise. Local and federal prosecutors have begun preliminary inquiries into the financial matter.

Ireland - Bishop Brendan Comiskey, Diocese of Ferns. He quit after a BBC documentary aired showing his role in covering up for pedophile priest Rev. Sean Fortune. 

Palm Beach, Fla. – Bishop Anthony O'Connell resigned after admitting that as a Missouri seminary leader in the 1970s, he abused a student who had come to him for counselling after being abused by a priest. More ex-students have since accused the bishop, including some who received secret payments from him. He quit shortly after joining other Florida bishops in a statement condemning sexual abuse as "criminal and sinful." Bishop O'Connell's predecessor also quit after admitting abuse. 

Austria - Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, Archbishop of Vienna. Pope John Paul II condemned the allegations but fellow bishops substantiated the molestation charges. (Resigned 1998) 

St. Petersburg, Fla. – Bishop Robert Lynch discosed that the diocese had paid his former spokesman $100,000 to settle allegations that the bishop sexually harassed him. Bishop Lynch is alleged to have made advances after Bill Urbanski joined the diocese in the late 1990s. The bishop said the matter was a misunderstanding and described the settlement as a severance package. A diocesan investigation declared the allegations unfounded. Mr. Urbanski said investigators didn't interview him. 

Poland - Archbishop Juliusz Paetz. Accused of molesting seminarians, he replied, "Not everyone understood my genuine openness and spontaneity toward people." (Resigned March 28, 2002) 

San Diego – Bishop Robert Brom was accused of coercing a student into a sexual relationship at a seminary in Minnesota, where he once was rector and later headed the Diocese of Duluth. Church officials acknowledged multiple settlements to seminarians as a result of abuse allegations involving other members of the hierarchy and priests but deny the validity of the claims. Brom paid a confidential settlement (reported to be $85,000.00) to his accuser, who agreed to retract his claim against Brom. Brom has stated the pay out was "minimal insurance" to help his accuser of getting on with his life. The deal was reached in 1993 but didn't become public until this spring. Bishop Brom continues to deny wrongdoing and remains on the job. 

Sioux Falls, S.D. – Bishop Paul Dudley, who retired in 1995, was accused of fondling an altar boy in the 1950s. He was a priest then in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, which said that it had hired a private detective to investigate. Archdiocesan officials said that in 1999, a woman accused Bishop Dudley of abusing her in the 1970s. There was insufficient evidence to support the allegation, the officials said. Bishop Dudley faces no civil or criminal charges. He has denied wrongdoing. 

U.K. - Archbishop John Aloysius Ward, Cardiff, Wales, for ordaining a man accused of assaulting a boy, among other accusations he denied. (Resigned October 2001) 

Australia - Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, Bullarat. He retired amid accusations he failed to protect altar boys from a pederast priest, who pleaded guilty to 46 offenses against 20 boys and one girl. (Resigned June 1997) 

Honolulu - Bishop Joseph Ferrario, Molestation charges, which he denied, were made against him. (Retired 1993) 

Canada - Archbishop Alphonsus Liguori Penney, Newfoundland. Knew about sexual and physical abuse of boys at Mt. Cashel orphanage for 10 years but did nothing (20 priests and layworkers were arrested and convicted). (Resigned 1990) 

Cheyenne, Wyo. – Bishop Joseph Hart, who retired in 2002, was accused in 1989 and 1992 of molesting two junior high school boys while a Missouri priest in the early 1970s. The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph paid for counseling of one accuser's family and bought another accuser a pickup; the bishop was evaluated at a treatment center, got therapy for alcohol abuse and returned to duty. The diocese has said there was no indication that he was dangerous. Since the allegations became public in April, a third accuser has come forward and said he was abused as a boy in Wyoming. Police there are investigating. Bishop Hart has denied wrongdoing.

Germany - Franziskus Eisenbach, Diocese of Mainz, 58. Although denying charges, he was accused by a woman of sexual abuse and injuring her during an exorcism. (Resigned mid-April 2002) 

Atlanta, GA - Archbishop Eugene Marino, Atlanta, Ga. He was involved in scandal involving a young woman, who said the "relationship" began by rape. (Resigned 1990) 

Santa Rosa, Calif. – Bishop G. Patrick Ziemann resigned in 1999 after admitting a sexual relationship with a priest he supervised. The priest said he was coerced into sex after the bishop learned he had stolen parish funds. Bishop Ziemann, who has returned to ministry in Arizona, said their relationship was consensual. 

Canada - Bishop Hubert O'Connor. He was accused and later convicted of molesting teens at boarding schools. (Resigned 1992) 

Palm Beach, Fla. – Bishop J. Keith Symons quit in 1998 after admitting that he abused five boys while a priest in various Florida parishes many years earlier. He has returned to ministry in Michigan. 

Santa Fe, N.M. – Archbishop Robert Sanchez resigned in 1993 after admitting affairs with young women in the 1980s and 1970s. His archdiocese has settled more than 100 lawsuits alleging that he ignored complaints about numerous pedophile priests who had been in treatment at a nearby facility and were assigned to parishes within his Archdiocse as part of their "rehabilitation" during this time. 

Ireland- Bishop Eamonn Casey. He fathered a child and used church funds to pay off the mother. (Resigned 1992) 

Chicago, Ill. - Cardinal Joseph Bernadin (deceased) faced abuse allegations in 1993 from Stephen Cook (deceased), a former seminarian who also claimed that Bernadin maintained a lengthy intimate relationship with him. Bernadin denied the charges. Cook later withdrew his charges stating he could no longer trust his memory. Church officials denied any settlement was paid to the former seminarian but multiple sources close to Cook maintain that he was paid in excess of one million dollars. Cook later died of Aids. Prior to their deaths Cook and Bernadin accomplished a private reconcilliation after which Bernadin celebrated Mass for Cook & his partner in the Cardinal's private residence. Independent investigations into those allegations and matters pertaining to them continue.