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	Diocese: Action Taken on Accused Priest By Mark Guydish Times Leader March 12, 2011 http://www.timesleader.com/news/Diocese__Action_taken_on_accused_priest_03-11-2011.html The Diocese of Scranton released more details about the handling of abuse allegations against the Rev. Mark Honhart, stressing he was placed in treatment immediately after the allegation was made. The statement came a day after a victims advocacy group blasted the diocese for waiting five weeks to publicize the news. The diocese had issued a statement Tuesday noting that on Feb. 2 it received an allegation that Honhart, while serving in the Missouri Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, had committed an act of sexual misconduct in the 1980s. Tuesday’s notice said Honhart was then immediately removed from ministry, and the Missouri diocese was notified. A lawsuit was filed by a “John Doe” in Missouri saying Honhart and another priest there had abused the plaintiff. Honhart was ordained in Missouri but came to this area in 2003 after family moved here. He served in multiple parishes, including Our Lady Help of Christians in Dorrance, Luzerne County. On Wednesday, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, issued a statement by Director David Clohessy saying “Scranton’s Catholic bishop secretly suspended a credibly accused predator priest almost five weeks ago without alerting the public. Shame on him. “By their secrecy, Scranton church officials have given a suspected criminal weeks to intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, destroy evidence, fabricate alibis and even flee the country.” Clohessy urged the diocese to post “predator priests’ names online” and suggested that, had the lawsuit not been filed, “(Bishop Joseph) Bambera might have never alerted the public about the accused child molester.” The diocese statement Thursday stressed Honhart had not only been removed from ministry at St. Katherine Drexel Parish in Rock Lake, Wayne County, after the Feb. 2 allegations, but also that he was “immediately placed in a treatment facility where he would be monitored and where he could not pose a threat to others or to himself.” Thursday’s statement also said Honhart “will remain in a secure setting until a disposition regarding the allegation is reached.” The diocese statement Thursday clarified the timeline, saying an allegation had been received in Scranton Feb. 2 followed by Honhart’s suspension, with the diocese learning of the lawsuit on March 7. Clohessy blasted Bambera within hours after it was first publicly announced in February 2010 that he would be elevated from monsignor to bishop. SNAP cited court paperwork it said showed Bambera had been part of attempts to hide an abuse allegation against a priest during his tenure as Vicar of Priests from 1995 to 1997, and said the choice of Bambera for bishop “worries and insults us.” Bambera has countered that he was following diocesan protocol at the time and had reported the allegations to then-Bishop James Timlin who had ultimate responsibility in the matter. Contact: mguydish@timesleader.com
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