Shields, the Archdiocese's vicar for Hispanic Catholics, is acting as parochial administrator of the ethnically diverse parish while the investigation is ongoing, but he stressed yesterday that Pinero remains the pastor.
"I realize this comes as a shock and is upsetting. . . . There is a great deal of confusion, wondering and speculating," he said. "But I ask you to withhold speculation and judgment. Withhold speculating on questions we don't know the answers to."
As has become de rigueur for those in public crisis, Hughes said that Pinero has gone on a retreat - one of the "spiritual" sort - and he asked the congregation to keep Pinero in their prayers.
Shields called the situation "serious" and said Cardinal Justin Rigali has expressed "his great pastoral concern" over the matter, but he said nothing about the investigation and asked those in the parish not to speculate, especially with the media.
After Mass, one elderly parishioner, who declined to give her name, said Pinero came to her house every Easter and blessed her food.
He also often visited her sick husband in the hospital and brought him Communion and holy oil, she said.
"I have no idea what's going on with him and I don't care," she said. "He's always prayed for me and now I'm praying for him."
Another woman, who also declined to give her name, said she couldn't imagine what the investigation was about.
"He's the greatest priest we've ever had," she said. "I've known him since he was a little kid."
The Brooklyn-born Pinero, 46, moved with his family to Philadelphia when he was 5, according to an online profile.
He attended Roman Catholic High School and spent two years studying liberal arts at Temple before entering St. Charles Borromeo Theological Seminary, according to his LinkedIn profile.
