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OTTAWA, May 16, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pope Benedict XVI has dismissed former Canadian Bishop Raymond Lahey from the clerical state, meaning he has been stripped of all the rights and duties of a bishop or priest, and is prohibited from dressing in priestly attire. However, he must maintain celibacy. 

Lahey has accepted the Decree of Dismissal, which also requires him to pray the Liturgy of the Hours in reparation for the harm and the scandal he has caused, and for the sanctification of clergy.

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Lahey was caught with child porn on his computer at the Ottawa airport in 2009. Of the 155,000 pornographic images on the computer, 588 photos and 63 videos depicted young boys in sexual acts.  Lahey was sentenced this past January 4th to eighteen months in prison, but was released right after the trial since he was given two-for-one credit for the 8 months in jail he had already served. 

Lahey told the court that he was a homosexual and had been in a steady homosexual relationship for 10 years. He hoped, he said, to return to this relationship after prison.

Rene Laprise, Director of Communications for the CCCB, told LifeSiteNews that he had no information on whether by accepting the Decree Lahey had agreed to end his relationship with his homosexual lover.  It is his “private life” said Laprise, “you should ask him about it.”  No contact information for Lahey was available.

See related articles:
* The lessons of the Bishop Lahey scandal
* Bishop Lahey child porn hearings an opportunity for renewal and purification: Michael O’Brien