A former Dubuque priest convicted of sexual abuse is no longer a member of the clergy.
Timothy DeVenney was granted a dispensation from all obligations and rights arising from Holy Orders, according to a statement from the Archdiocese of Dubuque released Friday.
The archdiocese said Pope Benedict XVI granted the dispensation and DeVenney has not been a priest since September of this year.
DeVenney served four years of a 10-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to fondling several boys at St. Columbkille Catholic Church in Dubuque in the mid-1990s.
Upon sentencing, he was placed on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry, and since 2002 he has been on the Sex Offender Information Bulletin of the District of Columbia.
DeVenney, who now resides in Washington D.C., was paroled on the condition of completing a treatment program. Following his completion of the program in May, DeVenney requested the dispensation.
