Ledwith laicised, church confirms

Ledwith's status:Micheál Ledwith, former president of St Patrick's College, Maynooth, and a senior Catholic theologian, has been laicised by the Catholic Church.

Church sources confirmed last night that, as recounted in the Ferns inquiry report, Dr Ledwith's "position as a priest of the diocese of Ferns was not resolved until September 2005". His laicisation, initiated by the church some time ago, was not completed until last month.

In June 2002 the 17 trustee/bishops of St Patrick's College, Maynooth acknowledged that before Dr Ledwith's abrupt departure from his post as president there in 1995, there had an allegation of sexual abuse involving a minor made against him, which he strenuously denied. They said he made a settlement with the claimant, without admission of liability.

They further disclosed that in 2000 another allegation was made against him by a former student at the college between 1992 and 1994. Mgr Ledwith was born in 1942 at Taghmon, Co Wexford. He attended St Peter's College in Wexford town before going to Maynooth, where he excelled academically.

He studied in Paris, Salzburg, and at Bad Reichenhall, Bavaria, in Germany. He later taught at St Peter's in Wexford.

He became professor of dogmatic theology there in 1976, and was appointed college vice-president in 1980, becoming the college's 25th president in 1985 aged 42.

He is currently a part-time lecturer at the New Age Ramtha's School of Enlightenment in Yelm, Washington State, USA.