GREENSBURG, Pa. -- Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck is reviewing eight cases in which Catholic priests allegedly sexually abused boys.
His office discussed the matter with officials of the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg on Wednesday, reported WTAE's Marcie Cipriani.
According to Peck, the cases all involved allegations equivalent to the criminal charge of indecent assault.
All of the cases involved preteen or teenage boys, some altar boys, and all involve allegations of abuse between 1962 and 1982.
Of the eight cases, the diocese has judged that five warranted further attention.
Two priests, both retired, were told not to perform any public ministry activities, while two active priests were placed on leave. A third priest who is not retired but has not been active in the diocese for years was returned to the diocese from his job as an army chaplain and then placed on leave.
The Greensburg Diocese had looked at the files of about 100 active priests
who serve in Fayette, Westmoreland, Armstrong and Indiana counties.
The Pittsburgh Roman Catholic Diocese has removed several
priests from church duty under stricter standards officials used in
reviewing two decades of records for credible allegations of abuse,
said the diocese spokesman, the Rev. Ronald Lengwin.
On March 8, it was announced by the Pittsburgh Roman Catholic Diocese that several priests were removed from church duty after what it called credible allegations of child sexual abuse. The Pittsburgh diocese has 354 active priests in 215 parishes in six southwestern Pennsylvania counties.
The review of priest files in the Greensburg and Pittsburgh
diocese was spurred by the scandal at the Archdiocese of Boston,
where officials did not report a priest known to be a sexual
predator of young boys.
Church leaders there have given prosecutors
the names of 80 priests suspected of molesting children during the
past 40 years.
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