EDMOND, Oklahoma — Edward J. Slattery, a retired Catholic bishop who apologized for reinstating a priest who later admitted sexually abusing an Oklahoma boy, has died, the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma said Saturday. He was 84.
Slattery died late Friday night at his Tulsa-area home after “a series of debilitating strokes,” Vicar General Father Gary Kastl said in a statement from the diocese.
In 2002, in the middle of a Catholic church sexual abuse scandal involving clergy, Slattery apologized for reinstating Reverend Kenneth Lewis in 1995 after allegations were made against him. Slattery said at the time that when the allegations came out in 1994, Lewis was initially removed from ministry but was reinstated after psychiatric treatment.
“I’ve made mistakes along the way and I feel terrible about it, but I don’t 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 boy from Oklahoma during a trip to Illinois in 2001. Lewis was removed from office and resigned in 2007. He eventually pleaded guilty on one charge of sexual abuse.
In 2009, the diocese of Tulsa was found to be failing to meet standards set by the U.S. Catholic bishops in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal. However, by 2010, training and other programs to prevent abuse had been implemented.
Slattery was also one of the bishops who objected to the University of Notre Dame’s invitation to then-President Barack Obama to speak at the 2009 graduation ceremony and present him with an honorary doctorate.
Slattery was born in Chicago and was ordained a priest in 1966. In 1994 he was ordained a bishop and shortly thereafter installed as bishop of the diocese of Tulsa.
He oversaw the expansion of Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma and the creation of a new campus for the charity in North Tulsa, and established a fund to provide college assistance to Catholic families.
He resigned in 2016 after turning 75, as required by church law.
Slattery is survived by four sisters and one brother.
