COLUMBUS — The Columbus Roman Catholic Diocese announced Thursday that it had stripped a priest of his pastoral duties because of a four-year relationship he had with a minor.

        Monsignor Joseph N. Fete has been appointed to an administrative position and will not have any responsibilities involving children, Bishop James A. Griffin said in a news release. Monsignor Fete was pastor of St. Margaret of Cortona Church in Columbus.

        He was “involved in a relationship” with an adolescent that started in 1976 and ended in 1979, when the person was an adult, the release said.

        Monsignor Fete told Bishop Griffin about the relationship in 1999, and the bishop said the matter was resolved that year.

        Monsignor Fete will become director of the diocese's newly created Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Affairs.

        He was the rector of St. Joseph Cathedral for most of the 1990s.

        No telephone number was listed for Monsignor Fete. A message for him was left Thursday night on the church's answering machine.

        The Cleveland diocese has suspended 11 priests in connection with sex-abuse allegations.

        The Columbus diocese has forwarded Franklin County prosecutors all information they requested relating to sex abuse allegations, Bishop Griffin said.

        There are no civil or criminal cases concerning abuse pending against any priest of the diocese, the bishop said.

        A national examination of child sex-abuse cases among priests has intensified since January, with the disclosure in Boston that former priest John Geoghan was moved from parish to parish after being accused. Since January, several dozen priests out of more than 47,000 nationwide have been suspended or forced to resign.

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