Charlotte Catholic Diocese vicar general and chancellor Monsignor Mauricio West resigns after  “credible allegation” of sexual misconduct involving former adult student of Belmont Abbey College

Charlotte Catholic Diocese vicar general and chancellor Monsignor Mauricio West resigns after  “credible allegation” of sexual misconduct involving former adult student of Belmont Abbey College

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”… Ephesians 6:12

“And yet we pretend to be godly, know how to adorn ourselves most finely and conceal our rascality, resort to and invent adroit devices and deceitful artifices (such as now are daily most ingeniously contrived) as though they were derived from the law codes; yea, we even dare impertinently to refer to it, and boast of it, and will not have it called rascality, but shrewdness and caution. In this lawyers and jurists assist, who twist and stretch the law to suit it to their cause, stress words and use them for a subterfuge, irrespective of equity or their neighbor’s necessity. And, in short, whoever is the most expert and cunning in these affairs finds most help in law, as they themselves say: Vigilantibus iura subveniunt [that is, The laws favor the watchful].”…Martin Luther

From The Charlotte Observer.

“A top Diocese of Charlotte official resigns after ‘credible’ sexual misconduct claim

The chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte steps down after a “credible allegation” of sexual misconduct involving a former adult student of Belmont Abbey College.”

“The second in command of the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte has stepped down after a “credible allegation” of sexual misconduct involving a former adult student of Belmont Abbey College, the diocese’s newspaper reported Thursday.

Monsignor Mauricio West, the diocese’s vicar general and its chancellor for nearly 25 years, has denied the allegation, the Catholic News Herald reported. Following a period of counseling and assessment, the diocese’s bishop said in a statement, West will be on a leave of absence from his ministerial duties.

West resigned Monday following a finding by the 46-county diocese’s Lay Review Board that the allegations were credible, The statement by Bishop Peter Jugis said.

The events are alleged to have occurred in the mid-1980s, when West was vice president for student affairs at Belmont Abbey, a small, Catholic liberal arts college in Gaston County. They involved multiple incidents of unwanted overtures toward an adult student over a two-year period, the bishop’s statement said.”

“The bishop offered his “deepest apologies” to the victim in the case.

The diocese will take “all necessary steps to root out all inappropriate behavior and to being open and transparent about our handling of all allegations of such conduct,“ Jugis said.

The 67-year-old West has been a longtime volunteer leader in Charlotte, including with the United Way of Central Carolinas and Queens University of Charlotte. He chaired the United Way board in 2004, a United Way spokesman said. He joined the board at Queens in July 2016 and resigned last Thursday, according to a university spokeswoman.

‘WE ARE DEEPLY SORRY’

In a statement, Belmont Abbey Abbot Placid Solari said the school cooperated with the diocese’s investigation and pledged that the school would be transparent in its handling of misconduct allegations.”

Read more:

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article228524279.html

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