Philadelphia Roman Catholic Archdiocese places on administrative leave 21 priests accused of sexual abuse of minors

As reported by Peter Loftus of The Wall Street Journal on March 8, 2011:

PHILADELPHIA (Dow Jones)--The Philadelphia Catholic Archdiocese placed on administrative leave 21 priests accused of sexual abuse of minors, weeks after a grand jury criticized the diocese for failing to remove priests who face credible abuse charges.

The action is one of the largest the Philadelphia diocese has taken in the abuse scandal, which has gripped the diocese for the past decade.

The diocese said Tuesday it acted after an initial examination of the substance of allegations against the priests and the process by which the allegations were reviewed. The diocese said it would conduct further investigations to determine the priests' status...

...A grand jury last month criticized the diocese for allowing 37 priests to continue in roles in which they were around children, despite "substantial evidence of abuse."

The diocese hired a former prosecutor to review the cases, ultimately deciding to remove 21 of the priests.