By Michael O'Malley
Plain Dealer
June 23, 2011
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/06/jesuit_who_had_served_in_cleve.html
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| This 1993 photo shows then-Bisop Anthony Pilla, left, and the Rev. J-Glenn Murray blessing students from Lyke Elementary School in Cleveland |
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Jesuit priest who served in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland for 18 years, was removed from ministry this month after an allegation that he improperly touched a child was found to be credible.
The complaint involving the Rev. J-Glenn Murray stems from the early 1980s when he was teaching at a Catholic high school in Baltimore.
The allegation was made to the Jesuits' Maryland Province in 2005 when Murray was an administrator in the Cleveland diocese, directing its Office of Pastoral Liturgy.
Murray was here from 1989 to 2007, also serving as associate pastor of St. Henry parish on Harvard Avenue in Cleveland, which has since closed.
A statement by diocese spokesman Robert Tayek said, "the diocese received no calls to our victim assistance coordinator or our response services hotline" regarding Murray.
A statement by the Jesuit province said the Baltimore allegation was immediately reported to civil authorities, but the person making the allegation declined to talk to civil investigators, so the inquiry was closed.
A province board that reviews sex-abuse allegations found the allegation not to be credible, the statement said.
But this spring, as the province was considering transferring Murray from his position as associate pastor of St. Aloysius Gonzaga Church in Washington, D.C., to a new assignment, the province reviewed his file and decided to open a new inquiry.
After getting additional information, the allegation was found to be credible, according to a province spokeswoman.
Neither the spokeswoman nor the statement said whether the accuser was male or female. The statement, which provided no other details, said it was the only allegation the province has received against Murray.
The priest, who was ordained in 1979, was removed from ministry June 8. The statement said Murray "now resides in a monitored residence with his Jesuit community."
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