Fox Tampa Bay
January 21, 2009
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=8290792&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
 |
| Father Ron Joseph addresses his parishioners, Wednesday, January 21, 2009. |
HOLMES BEACH – A priest facing allegations of sexual abuse went before members of his congregation today to defend himself.
Father Ron Joseph was suspended from St. Bernard Catholic Church last summer.
Today, he and his lawyer presented the accusations to a crowd at the Holmes Beach City Hall.
The accuser is a 31-year-old man who says Fr. Joseph touched him inappropriately 15 years ago.
The man made the allegations last summer in a letter to the Diocese of Venice.
The Diocese began an internal investigation, and suspended Fr. Joseph from his post as pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church.
Today, parishioners voiced their support.
"Sexual abuse is a serious offense, but so is wrongly condemning someone of it. No formal charges have been made and no evidence has been presented," said Lauren Sato.
Others want the investigation turned over to law enforcement.
"We hope the diocese will turn this over to police and let trained independent professionals determine what happened in this case," said Barbara Dorris, with a group called Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.
At this point, law enforcement is not involved in the investigation, because no one has reported a crime.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.