A longtime Roman Catholic priest in Alabama has voluntarily left the clergy after a woman alleged to his superiors that he provided her financial support in exchange for private companionship including s3x, beginning when she was 17. Robert Sullivans self-imposed removal from the priesthood known as laicization was announced Wednesday, Nov. 26, the day before the US holiday of Thanksgiving, in a public statement from Birmingham, Alabama, by Bishop Steven Raica. The woman who accused Sullivan, Heather Jones, filed her allegations in a formal written statement to the Birmingham diocese.
Jones, now 33, also maintained that Sullivan had paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars to remain silent about their arrangement, backing up her claim with financial and email records, along with a copy of a legal agreement. Raicas letter said a subsequent church investigation into the significant payments alleged to have been made by then-father Sullivan found no link between the allegations and any diocesan, parish or school funds. These four months since the allegations surfaced have been challenging in the life of our local church, Raicas letter added. I am grateful for the patience and resilience of all who have been affected directly or indirectly by this matter. Members of the priesthood Sullivan, 61, resigned from promise to be abstinent and teach that s3x out of wedlock is sinful. Furthermore, people younger than 18 are classified as minors and s3xual contact with them is considered to be abusive under policies which US Catholic bishops adopted in the early 2000s amid the worldwide churchs decades-old clergy molestation scandal. However, in Alabama, the legal age of consent is 16. In her statement to Sullivans superiors, Jones recounted growing up in foster care after being removed from her mothers custody due to severe neglect. She wrote that she lacked reliable adult support during her formative years and therefore tried to make ends meet by working as a dancer at an adult establishment outside Birmingham. Jones said she was 17 when she met Sullivan at that establishment, where she managed to land a job despite being under an applicable age limit. Sullivan was a regular patron, made it a point to tip her during her shifts and soon offered to help change [her] life if she called him on a phone number he slipped her, she wrote. Sullivan then proposed to form an ongoing relationship that would include financial support in exchange for private companionship, Jones wrote. Jones said Sullivan went on to take her shopping, dining, drinking, and to hotel rooms in at least six different Alabama cities in part to engage in s3x beginning when she was 17 and over the course of several years. He was said to have initially presented himself as a medical doctor, though Jones later learned he was a priest. At the time, I was a minor, with no experience navigating adult relationships, and no understanding of how power and influence could be used to manipulate someone vulnerable, Jones wrote in her complaint. I was hesitant but ultimately agreed due to his persistence and the desperate state I was in. Jones said she grappled with depression, addiction and emotional instability during her arrangement with Sullivan. She said she eventually spoke out against him because Sullivan had continued working closely with families and their children as the otherwise popular pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows church in Homewood, Alabama, leaving her worried others may be vulnerable to the same type of manipulation and exploitation that she described enduring. Additionally, in 2020, Raica had appointed Sullivan to serve as one of the Birmingham dioceses vicars general, meaning he held a high-ranking administrative position. Sullivan told congregants at Our Lady of Sorrows Mass on August 3rd that he was taking personal leave. He did not provide a reason, but Jones by then had filed her complaint against him with the diocese. Raica issued a letter to his dioceses congregants informing them of the allegations against Sullivan and the reason for his leave on 13 August. That letter also said the diocese had forwarded Joness allegations to the Vatican entity which investigates cases of clergy misconduct. Sullivan later asked Pope Leo XIV to be dispensed from all the obligations of the priesthood, the statement from Raica on Wednesday, Nov. 26, disclosed. The pontiff granted the request on Monday, Raicas letter said. Jones did not immediately comment on Sullivans laicization. Sullivan was ordained a priest in 1993, according to a previous Our Lady of Sorrows social media post.
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