Six Roman Catholic priests from the Archdiocese of New York are being relieved of their duties because of past allegations of sexual misconduct. A statement from the archdiocese Monday says it has told the priests to immediately stop ministering and performing other priestly duties. The archdiocese statement says the priests are not being named because all the allegations have not been substantiated. 

The move comes just days after Archbishop Edward Cardinal Egan turned over a list of all its priests who had been accused of sexual abuse of minors to the Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. 

The archdiocese called the list a "comprehensive review" of its personnel files dating back 35 to 40 years. 

The archdiocese took the action as a wave of sex scandals involving Catholic priests in the United States came to light. 

In January, a priest in Boston, Massachusetts, John Geoghan, accused of molesting more than 130 children over 30 years, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. 

In addition, the Boston Globe reports Monday the Archdiocese of Boston arranged the transfer of a known child molester, the Reverend Paul Shanley to a parish in California in 1990. 

The paper says the transfer was made with a top-level written assurance that Reverend Shanley had no problems in the past. 

Some information for this report provided by AFP.

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