Longtime pastor removed from St. John Cantius Catholic Parish in Chicago amid investigation

The Rev. C. Frank Phillips, founder of a religious order of men and pastor at the storied St. John Cantius Catholic Parish, was removed last week by the Archdiocese of Chicago amid an investigation into allegations of improper conduct with adult men, according to church officials.

In a statement to parishioners, Cardinal Blase Cupich explained that he had made the decision to “withdraw” Phillips after learning “of credible allegations of improper conduct involving adult men.” Anne Maselli, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said in an email that the allegations do not involve any minors.

continue at Chicago Tribune

A few other details:

The religious order of St John Cantius was founded by Canon Phillips.  However, he remains a member of the Congregation of the Resurrection and is not actually a Canon of St John Cantius, even though he founded the canons and was their superior.

The Archdiocese of Chicago owns the St John Cantius parish itself.  For whatever reason, Cardinal George never made the order independant which seems odd.

A few months ago, Bishop Athanasius Schneider was scheduled to give the Canons a spiritual retreat. Cardinal Cupich personally intervened and forbid Bishop Athanasius Schneider from preaching in the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Also see: Pope denounces ‘restorationist’ orders

Update:

This weekend, in a letter read out during 5:00 Mass on Saturday and repeated during the 7:30, 9:00, 11:00 and 12:30 Masses on Sunday, the Archdiocese of Chicago announced that Fr. Frank Phillips had been removed as Pastor of St. John Cantius and as Superior of the Order that he founded, the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius

....
At Mass yesterday and today, there was great shock and grief. One of the younger priests was seen to be crying.

Everyone is solidly supportive of Fr. Phillips. There is a huge amount of love and affection for him here, both on a personal level and for everything he has done to build up the parish from near-death to being one of the country's leading centers for Catholic Tradition and the Traditional Latin Mass, as well as becoming a Chicago cultural landmark in its own right. As far as I know, there has never been even an atom of rumor here of inappropriate conduct or homosexuality.

(I just reread the above paragraph, and it doesn't put it quite right. If you are not a parishioner at Cantius, it would be perhaps difficult to understand the level of love and respect we all have for Fr. Phillips. For a man always so busy with so many tasks, it's remarkable how many people feel so close to him.)

There was also much anger, directed, as might be expected, at Cardinal Cupich, who has long been perceived as being hostile to this Traditionalist parish. At the Saturday evening Mass, a man loudly departed his pew and stormed into the vestibule, loudly swinging the heavy doors. At the Sunday 7:30 Mass, a woman interrupted the reading of the first letter, shouting that the whole thing was a setup.

more at Mahound's Paradise