MESA (AZ)
East Valley Tribune
By Kristina Davis, Tribune
A popular Mesa priest who founded the nation’s largest Roman Catholic youth organization has been placed on administrative leave while church officials investigate claims he knew about sexual misconduct involving a teen 20 years ago, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix announced Wednesday.
Monsignor Dale Fushek, pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Community in Mesa, is prohibited from priestly duties while investigators look into claims that he knew about sexual abuse at the church and was present during one of the incidents.
Attorney Frank Verderame notified church officials Dec. 22 that a former parishioner claimed to have recovered repressed memories of sexual molestation by the Rev. Mark Lehman, who served 10 years in prison for molesting students in the late 1980s at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School in Phoenix.