Vatican defrocks former local priest

Rosenkranz, who served as the assistant pastor of Star of the Sea Church from February 1965 until June 1970, had been placed on medical leave by the former leader of the Archdiocese of Boston Cardinal Bernard Law in 1989, just a year after allegations of sexual abuse of minors had surfaced. Since that time, Rosenkranz had been restricted from any public ministry, and was denied his request to return to active duty as a priest in 1993.

According to a timeline provided by archdiocese spokeswoman Kelly Lynch, Rosenkranz served six different parishes after leaving Star of Sea, including Blessed Sacrament in Saugus, St. Mary’s in Beverly and St. Joseph’s in Salem, his last parish before being placed on leave.

In March of 2002, under the representation of local attorney Jeffrey Newman, a man who had served as an altar boy at Star of the Sea at the same time when Rosenkranz was a priest claimed that not only was he abused by Rosenkranz, but that then-Monsignor William McCarthy has witnessed the abuse and failed to take action.

The decision to dismiss Rosenkranz from “the clerical state” means that the former priest “will no longer receive any financial support from the archdiocese and may no longer function as a priest, with the exception of offering absolution to the dying,” according to an official statement from Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

“I again apologize for the suffering endured as a result of these tragic violations of innocence and trust,” said O’Malley.