EDMOND, Okla. (AP) — Edward J. Slattery, a retired Catholic bishop who apologized for reinstating a priest who later admitted to sexually abusing an Oklahoma boy, has died, the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma said Saturday. He was 84.
Slattery died at his home in the Tulsa area late Friday following “a series of debilitating strokes,” Vicar General Fr. Gary Kastl said in a statement from the diocese.
In 2002, amid a Catholic Church sex abuse scandal involving clergy, Slattery apologized for reinstating the Rev. Kenneth Lewis in 1995 following allegations against him. Slattery said at the time that when allegations emerged in 1994, Lewis was initially removed from the ministry but was reinstated after receiving psychiatric treatment.
“I have made mistakes along the way, and I feel terrible about it, but I do not feel guilty about it,” Slattery told the Tulsa World. “The mistakes are probably part of a culture of trying to protect the church.”
Lewis was later accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old Oklahoma boy during a 2001 trip to Illinois. Lewis was removed from the ministry and resigned in 2007. He eventually pleaded guilty to one count of sex abuse.
In 2009, the Tulsa Diocese was found out of compliance with standards set by U.S. Catholic bishops following the clergy sexual abuse scandal, but by 2010 had implemented training and other abuse prevention programs.
Slattery was also among the bishops who objected to the University of Notre Dame's invitation to then-President Barack Obama to speak at its 2009 graduation ceremony and to present him with an honorary doctorate.
Slattery was born in Chicago and was ordained a priest in 1966. He was ordained as bishop in 1994 and shortly afterward installed as bishop of the diocese in Tulsa.
He oversaw an expansion of Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma and creation of a new campus for the charity in north Tulsa as well as creation of a tuition assistance fund for Catholic families.
He resigned in 2016 after reaching his 75th birthday, as required under church law.
Slattery is survived by four sisters and one brother.
FILE - Edward Slattery, bishop of the Diocese of Tulsa, celebrates Mass in a courtyard for about 30 people Monday, Sept. 5, 2005, at Camp Gruber, in Braggs, Okla. (Jim Beckel/The Oklahoman via AP)
TOKYO (AP) — A Chinese aircraft carrier entered Japan’s contiguous waters for the first time on Wednesday, leading Tokyo to convey its “serious concerns” to Beijing over China’s increasingly assertive military actions around Japan, officials said.
The Chinese carrier Liaoning, accompanied by two destroyers, sailed between Japan’s westernmost island of Yonaguni and nearby Iriomote, entering the country's co-called “contiguous zone,” the Defense Ministry said. That's an area of sea beyond a country's territorial waters in which it can still exercise some control over maritime traffic, reaching up to 24 nautical miles offshore.
The Liaoning's transit was part of a fleet movement Tuesday and Wednesday, during which Chinese warships also passed off the western coast of the disputed Japanese-controlled islets it calls the Senkakus, the ministry said. China claims the same islets, calling them the Diaoyus.
Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshi Moriya told reporters that “the latest incident is absolutely unacceptable from the perspective of the national and regional security.”
Last month, Japan said that a Chinese Y-9 reconnaissance airplane violated Japanese airspace. Days later, a Chinese survey ship breached the Japanese territorial water just off the southern prefecture of Kagoshima.
Moriya said the Japanese government expressed “our serious concerns” to China through diplomatic channels on Wednesday.
“China has increasingly expanded and intensified military activities around Japan in recent years,” Moriya said. “We will continue to closely watch Chinese warships’ activity around Japan and the regional waters while ensuring information gathering and vigilance.”
Tokyo had reinforced defenses in southwestern Japan, including remote islands that are considered key to Japan’s defense strategy in the region.
The Soviet-built Liaoning underwent extensive refurbishing before being commissioned in 2012 as China's first aircraft carrier. The country now has two more aircraft carriers, including one fully designed and built in China.
FILE -The Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier, sails into Hong Kong for a port call to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) garrison's presence in the semi-autonomous Chinese city and former British colony on July 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)
