How to Use defrock in a Sentence

defrock

verb
  • The next year, the church defrocked Father Geoghan and removed him from the priesthood.
    New York Times, 3 June 2019
  • The priest eventually was defrocked and died in prison while serving a sentence for abuse in Texas.
    J.m. Lawrence, BostonGlobe.com, 29 June 2018
  • Among the men Feit helped keep in ministry was child molester James Porter, who assaulted more than 100 victims before he was defrocked and sent to prison.
    Associated Press, Houston Chronicle, 8 Dec. 2017
  • He was defrocked and died in the Vatican before facing justice.
    Jason Horowitz, New York Times, 5 Oct. 2017
  • The decision makes the 88-year-old the first U.S. cardinal—and possibly the first ever globally—to be defrocked.
    Francis X. Rocca, WSJ, 16 Feb. 2019
  • In the end, mostly because of his negative stance on the papacy, Savonarola was defrocked and executed by the church.
    Kat Eschner, Smithsonian, 7 Feb. 2017
  • In the end, mostly because of his negative stance on the papacy, Savonarola was defrocked and executed by the church.
    Kat Eschner, Smithsonian, 7 Feb. 2017
  • In this legal system, the worst punishment a priest can incur is being defrocked or dismissed from the clerical state.
    Fox News, 18 Dec. 2019
  • In this legal system, the worst punishment a priest can incur is being defrocked, or dismissed from the clerical state.
    Nicole Winfield, The Denver Post, 17 Dec. 2019
  • Brennan, 80, was removed from active ministry soon after the report was released and defrocked last year.
    Craig R. McCoy, Philly.com, 25 June 2018
  • The monks have been defrocked and charged with offenses related to embezzlement, fraud and robbery.
    George Styllis, Washington Post, 24 June 2018
  • Though Brown was stripped of his authority to act publicly as a priest, he wasn’t laicized, or defrocked, until September 2019.
    David Tarrant, Dallas News, 1 Feb. 2020
  • While hundreds of priests have been defrocked over the years for raping and molesting minors, only a few bishops have faced sanctions for failing to prevent such crimes.
    Nicole Winfield, The Seattle Times, 8 Oct. 2018
  • Now that his criminal trial is over Capella will be subject to a canonical hearing, which could lead to him being defrocked.
    Deutsche Welle, USA TODAY, 23 June 2018
  • Concerned Catholics has been calling for Apuron's permanent removal as Guam archbishop and is hoping he will be defrocked.
    Haidee V Eugenio, USA TODAY, 24 Sep. 2017
  • Bishop Daily was named as a defendant in dozens of suits filed by people who claimed that Father Geoghan, who was later defrocked, had molested them in his three decades as a priest.
    Sam Roberts, New York Times, 15 May 2017
  • After he was defrocked, Wesolowski lost his diplomatic immunity and the Vatican said he could be tried by other courts.
    Bloomberg.com, 15 Sep. 2017
  • The naked and unseemly lust for the wrong kind of money led it here, into the middle of an FBI investigation, with several coaches under arrest and one legend defrocked and more of both, so much more, to come.
    Gregg Doyel, Indianapolis Star, 28 Sep. 2017
  • Now that the criminal prosecution is over, Capella will be subject to a canonical trial, which could result in him being defrocked.
    Washington Post, 23 June 2018
  • One prominent cleric, who has denied abuse allegations, was among those defrocked by Pope Francis.
    Ryan Dube, WSJ, 19 Oct. 2018
  • Robben eventually was defrocked from the Christian order, and apparently then started his own.
    Claudia Lauer and Meghan Hoyer, chicagotribune.com, 5 Oct. 2019
  • Accused of paying shoeshine boys for sex while serving as papal nuncio, or ambassador, in the Dominican Republic, he was recalled by Francis in 2013 and defrocked the following year.
    Alexandra Zavis, latimes.com, 29 June 2017
  • After the charter was established in 2002, some critics say dioceses were more likely to simply defrock priests and return them to private citizenship.
    Claudia Lauer and Meghan Hoyer, chicagotribune.com, 5 Oct. 2019
  • Now that the criminal prosecution is over, Capella will be subject to a separate canonical trial, which could result in him being defrocked.
    Nicole Winfield, BostonGlobe.com, 23 June 2018
  • Such behavior eventually got him defrocked, in 1955, but Peters was unfazed.
    Ben Downing, WSJ, 31 Jan. 2020
  • Late last month, the pope defrocked Fernando Karadima, an influential priest in Santiago who was accused in 2010 of having molested minors in his parish.
    Ryan Dube, WSJ, 13 Oct. 2018
  • This week, attorney Jerry Coughlan, who is representing the congregation in the misconduct proceedings, called for Bruno to be defrocked and that a forensic audit be conducted of the bishop’s books.
    Hillary Davis, Daily Pilot, 29 June 2017
  • Benedict had taken a hard line against clerical sex abuse during his time as prefect of the congregation himself, and later as pope, defrocking hundreds of priests accused of raping and molesting children.
    Nicole Winfield, Time, 1 July 2017
  • Altogether, the pope has accepted the resignations of seven bishops in Chile and defrocked several prominent priests.
    Ryan Dube, WSJ, 19 Oct. 2018
  • Thousands of accusations eventually led to thousands of priests being defrocked or sanctioned, more than $1 billion in settlements and forced several dioceses to file for bankruptcy protection.
    William Cummings, USA TODAY, 17 Jan. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'defrock.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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