Two months after a grand jury report detailed decades of sexual abuse of children in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, the diocese has posted names of 22 credibly accused clerics and another six under suspension pending investigation.
All were already listed in the March 1 report of the statewide grand jury, which said hundreds of children had been victimized, most of them between the 1940s and 1980s.
The diocese’s posting did not include another eight names of priests who also were identified in the report. Spokesman Tony DeGol said the diocese has been following up on the report as best as it can but that the attorney general’s office continues to hold the personnel records it seized last year during the investigation.
The list is “by no means conclusive, but it’s what we can at least start with,” he said. “As we are able to able to gather more information and confirm it, we will update the list.”
Jeffrey Johnson, spokesman for Attorney General Kathleen Kane, said the office would probably hold on to the documents for the foreseeable future while the investigation is open.
Most U.S. Catholic dioceses do not post the names of credibly accused priests, and the Altoona-Johnstown list is still a bare outline compared to the websites of some dioceses that do. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia posts the names of accused priests along with their photos, descriptions of their cases and their assignment histories.
George Foster, a Johnstown businessman and active Catholic whose own investigations helped reveal abuse in the diocese years ago, calls Bishop Mark Bartchak’s response inadequate.
“I don’t see any difference between what he’s done and what past bishops have done,” he said. Mr. Foster said he has reported other recently obtained allegations to the bishop and does not see evidence of a response. Some allegations involve sexual misconduct with children and others sexual activity with adults — legal but unbecoming conduct that he said creates a climate of secrecy.
In a statement, Bishop Bartchak called the accusation “simply false.” He said in any allegations involving minors, he suspends the priest and refers the information to law enforcement. In cases involving adults, he said he takes steps to ensure. “that those who serve in the church are suitable for the ministry entrusted to them.”
The list on the Altoona-Johnstown web page includes:
■ Joseph D. Maurizio, a priest serving a 16-plus-year federal sentence for abusing orphans in Honduras.
■ Francis Ackerson, Joseph Bender, Thomas M. Carroll, William Crouse, Mario Fabbri, Elwood F. Figurelle, Francis McCaa, Daniel O’Friel, William A. Rosensteel, James Skupien and Joseph Strittmatter, all deceased priests.
■ Thomas Lemmon, a deceased deacon.
■ John J. Boyle, James Bunn, William Kovach and Martin D. McCamley, all priests removed from public ministry.
■ Dennis Coleman, Joseph Gaborek, Bernard V. Grattan, George D. Koharchik and Francis Luddy, all removed from the priesthood.
■ The Revs. David Arsenault, Charles Bodziak, Martin Cingle, James Coveney and Robert Kelly and Monsignor Anthony Little, suspended. Some maintained their innocence in responses to the grand jury.
In addition to diocesan clerics, the grand jury also reported allegations religious-order members and lay leaders. Three Franciscan leaders based within the diocese face criminal charges for endangering the welfare of children over their handling of an abusive friar.
Peter Smith: petersmith@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1416; Twitter @PG_PeterSmith.
First Published: May 4, 2016, 10:14 p.m.
