By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – The Archdiocese of St. Louis announced today that James Beine has been removed from the priesthood.
Beine has been in the news recently following the Missouri Supreme Court's decision to throw out his conviction of sexual misconduct. Beine had been accused of exposing himself to boys in a restroom while a school counselor.
The archdiocese began proceedings to defrock Beine in October 2003. He had been suspended from the priesthood in 1977.
In the 1990s the Archdiocese spent more than 100-thousand dollars to settle to lawsuits that alleged Beine sexually abused boys decades earlier.
The president of SNAP, an advocacy group for victims of clergy sex abuse, said in a statement that the archdiocese made the move 30 years too late.
The former priest remains in prison voluntarily because out of concern for his safety.