The Reverend Bruce Teague, Catholic religious advisor at the College, has been the focus of much media attention in the past few days because of statements he made regarding his removal as pastor from St. Brigid's church in Amherst.

In Saturday's Boston Globe, Teague said that St. Brigid's did not renew his tenure when his superiors at the church discovered that Teague had alerted Amherst police to a priest who had been convicted of child molestation that was loitering around the church.

"I thought I was doing the right thing, to protect the children," Teague told the Globe. "They [diocese officials] were unhappy with me. I was a whistle blower and people got mad at me."

The Most Rev. Thomas Dupre, bishop of the Springfield Roman Catholic diocese, said in a statement that the reasons for Teague's departure "relate solely to the needs of the parish and his performance as pastor."

In Tuesday's Springfield Union-News, Teague said that media attention has been misdirected. "The reasons for leaving St. Brigid were much more complex than reported … I will not contradict my Bishop," Teague said in an e-mail sent to the Union-News on Sunday.

A spokesman for the diocese told The Daily Hampshire Gazette on Tuesday that there will be a meeting between the personnel board of the diocese and a commission from St. Brigid's to discuss and answer questions regarding the decision to dismiss Teague. The meeting has not yet been scheduled.

Rev. Richard Lavigne, the priest who Teague told police was hanging around St. Brigid's in 1997, pleaded guilty to molesting two boys in 1992, according to the Globe. However, the diocese did not defrock him and he continues to be paid by the diocese.

Michael Graziano, a spokesman for the diocese, told the Globe that canon law requires the diocese to pay Lavigne a "subsistence stipend."

Although Teague has now said that his whistle blowing was not the sole reason for his departure from St. Brigid's, others in the church believe Teague's original claims. "Father Teague was driven out of here because he protected children and dared to challenge the diocese about Lavigne while other priests were still socializing with Lavigne," David Keenan, former Amherst selectman told the Globe. "And yet the diocese continues to coddle Father Lavigne, a convicted pedophile. It's an absolute disgrace."

According to the Globe, Keenan was part of a group of parishioners from St. Brigid's who had tried without success to arrange a meeting with Dupre to fight for Teague's reinstatement.

"We have no plans to dismiss Father Teague," said President Tom Gerety. "We are pleased with his work here."