A Roman Catholic priest in Alabama has voluntarily left the clergy after a woman came forward alleging he provided her with financial support in exchange for sex beginning when she was 17-years-old, according to the Guardian.
Robert Sullivan, 61, removed himself from the priesthood in what is known as laicization, as announced in a public statement released the day before Thanksgiving.
Heather Jones, the woman who has accused Sullivan of these charges, filed her allegations in a formal written statement to the Birmingham diocese that she then shared exclusively with the Guardian in August.
Jones, now 33, "maintained that Sullivan had paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars to remain silent about their arrangement, backing up her claim with financial and email records, along with a copy of a legal agreement," the Guardian reports.
Alabama Bishop Steven Raica says in a letter that “the significant payments alleged to have been made by then-father Sullivan … found no link between the allegations and any diocesan, parish or school funds."
“These four months since the allegations surfaced have been challenging in the life of our local church,” Raica’s letter continues. “I am grateful for the patience and resilience of all who have been affected directly or indirectly by this matter.”
Members of Sullivan's former priesthood "promise to be abstinent and teach that sex out of wedlock is sinful," the Guardian explains.
"Furthermore, people younger than 18 are classified as minors –and sexual contact with them considered to be abusive – under policies which US Catholic bishops adopted in the early 2000s amid the worldwide church’s decades-old clergy molestation scandal," they add.
That being said, Sullivan is likely to face no charges from law enforcement because the age of consent in Alabama is 16.
Jones was 17 when she met Sullivan at an "adult establishment," where she worked as a dancer, and says "Sullivan was a regular patron, made it a point to tip her during her shifts and soon offered to 'help change [her] life' if she called him on a phone number he slipped her," the Guardian explains.
Sullivan then proposed “to form an ongoing relationship that would include financial support in exchange for private companionship," Jones says.
Jones explains that Sullivan went on to "take her shopping, dining, drinking and to hotel rooms in at least six different Alabama cities in part to engage in sex – beginning when she was 17 and over the course of several years," the Guardian says.
Sullivan, she says, "initially presented himself as a medical doctor, though [she] later learned he was a priest."
“At the time, I was a minor, with no experience navigating adult relationships, and no understanding of how power and influence could be used to manipulate someone vulnerable,” Jones writes in her complaint. “I was hesitant but ultimately agreed due to his persistence and the desperate state I was in.”
Raica issued a letter to his diocese’s congregants in which he explained the allegations against Sullivan and the reason for his leave in August, the same day that the Guardian reported Jones’s story.
That letter also said the diocese forwarded Jones’s allegations to the Vatican entity that investigates cases of clergy misconduct.
Sullivan later asked Pope Leo XIV to “be dispensed from all the obligations” of the priesthood, Wednesday’s statement says.
According to Raica, the pontiff granted the request on Monday
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