ASU Ex-priest Professor Accused Of Sexually Abusing Kids

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn has confirmed that James “Jaime” Lara, a professor of medievalist history at Arizona State University, had his priesthood revoked by the Vatican in 1992 for sexually abusing children. Arizona State University released a statement on Friday advising that saying that Lara is “no longer affiliated with Arizona State University.”

Lara’s affiliation with the university ended on Thursday.

According to the State Press, “The ASU official said the University found out about Lara’s history with the clergy when the diocese announced it on its website Thursday.”

“We found out when the diocese posted it and somebody walked over to his office and said ‘You need to resign or we’re going to fire you,’” the official said told the State Press. “And he said ‘OK, I’ll resign.’”

“The Diocese of Brooklyn wishes to confirm that James Lara, aka Jaime Lara, who was ordained in 1973 and was in active ministry until his removal in 1992, was dispensed from the clerical state, otherwise referred to as laicized by the Holy Father,” reported the Diocese. “This action was communicated via an ecclesiastical decree issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is the Vatican office authorized to deal with cases involving sexual abuse of minors by a cleric. This confirmation is being made in keeping with clause #6 of the aforementioned decree, and is consistent with the policies and procedures of the Diocese of Brooklyn, put in place for the protection of minors.”

Research Professor, MY
Faculty, TEMPE Campus
Bio

Jaime Lara (Ph.D. Graduate Theological Union and UC Berkeley) works in the intersection of the visual arts and religion through various media (architecture, painting, sculpture, prints). Trained as a medievalist, Dr. Lara examines hybrid artifacts and artistic creations at moments of culture contact, principally the contact that Aztecs and Incas had with a European Christian worldview. He is especially interested in how symbols and metaphors, both verbal and visual, mediated understanding or misunderstanding; and how enacted rituals, liturgy and theater acted as cultural bridges in which there was give and take. This is the theme of his books City, Temple, Stage: Eschatological Architecture and Liturgical Theatrics in New Spain (2004); Christian Texts for Aztecs: Art and Liturgy in Colonial Mexico (2008); The Flowering Cross: Holy Week in an Andean Village (2010); and Birdman of Assisi: Art and the Apocalyptic in the Colonial Andes (2016). His background in anthropology, theology, and liturgics (i.e., the history of worship) allows him to scan historical moments when missionaries contacted non-Mediterranean cultures like that of the Irish, Saxons, Mongols, or New World, and there resulted innovative works of art that fused the values, thought, and worldview of both societies.

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