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Thursday, August 23, 2018

Pottsville priest, 30, faces sex charges

HARRISBURG — A Roman Catholic priest was charged on Tuesday with groping a 17-year-old girl and sending her nude images of himself, just a week after a grand jury reported the church had covered up decades of child molestation by priests across the state.

The charges of felony corruption of minors and misdemeanor indecent assault against 30-year-old Kevin Lonergan were not a result of the landmark grand jury investigation but stemmed from a complaint filed in June, after the grand jury had finished its work, authorities said.

Lonergan is an Allentown Diocese priest from Pottsville.

This is at least the second case of possible priest abuse being investigated in the Allentown Diocese since the grand jury finished its report, which identified 301 “predator priests” in a half-dozen Pennsylvania dioceses, including 37 in Allentown, going back to the 1940s.

Authorities have charged just two priests as a result of the grand jury investigation, including a priest who has since pleaded guilty.

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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

First, this is unacceptable reprehensible behavior. It would be not only by a Catholic priest.. but by anyone really.

And that's my point.

It seems that Catholics are getting singled out here... but the fact is that this is happening in all churches, not just the Catholics. That includes it being hidden.

Don't believe me? Just ask Church Mutual Insurance Company, the GuideOne Insurance Company and the Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company.. these companies insure the majority of Protestant Churches. They get reports of 260 plus per year of documented abuse from protestant churches, AND speculate the numbers would be higher if the Protestant churches were more centralized, like the Catholic, and not so spread out and individualized. In the same year.. there were 288 reports for the Catholics.

Who else supports this info? Billy Grahams grandson, Basyle "Boz" Tchividjian. He has spoken out on this, given these statistics, and works to fight this tragedy.

So before all the Catholic haters show up... you might wanna make sure your own house is in order first.

Child abuse, is child abuse... and it shouldn't happen... especially in church.

Anonymous said...

If he is found guilty he should be castrated just like all other pedos should be.

Anonymous said...

Anyone who believes that a man is more moral just because he wears a fancy red or black robe deserves to be fooled. And that goes for judges as well as priests.

Anonymous said...

Amen!

Anonymous said...

1:40
Enjoy Sharia Law much?

Anonymous said...

And Baptist, METHODIST, Jewish, etc. Don't act as if only Catholic priests do this. Not all priests do this. The Catholic Church has been around long before us. The Catholic Church will be around long after us.

Anonymous said...

Huh??? Hes not gay?