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	Pittsburgh Bishop Says Abuse Accusation Is Untrue By John P. Martin Philadelphia Inquirer October 5, 2011 www.philly.com/philly/news/131160058.html The leader of Pittsburgh's Roman Catholic diocese today said he has been falsely accused of sexually accosting a teenage boy when he was principal at a Beaver County high school in the mid-1980s. In a news conference, Bishop David A. Zubik strenuously denied any inappropriate contact with his accuser, an unidentified man who had posted the allegations online. According to Zubik, the man claims that the priest violently forced him up against a wall in the school chapel and tried to kiss him when both were at Quigley Catholic High School a quarter-century ago. "I emphatically state no such behavior occurred, nor any semblance of such behavior," Zubik said in a prepared statement. "The accusation is false, offensive and outrageous." In an interview late this afternoon, Beaver County District Attorney Anthony Berosh said his office investigated the claims by the 46-year-old Beaver County man but couldn't substantiate them. He said the same man had leveled allegations earlier this summer against another priest. "He's a very tortured soul, let's just leave it at that," Berosh said. Zubik, 62, became the leader of the Pittsburgh diocese in 2007. With more than 200 parishes in western Pennsylvania, it's the state's second largest Catholic community. The bishop said the man leveled abuse accusations against Zubik and two nuns in August, after he had been turned down for a liturgical position in the diocese. Zubik said he informed prosecutors in Beaver County, the review board for his diocese and his superiors in the church. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the accuser declined to speak with one of its reporters, but said he planned to share his story later this month in an interview with CNN host Nancy Grace. Zubik told reporters that discussing the accusation was a relief. "Take a look at this collar," he said, according to video of the news conference posted online. "I've been putting this collar on every day for the past 40 years. In the name of my brother priests I want to say this collar is not a bullseye. All I can do is come before everybody and hope that people will believe what I say is true." Contact: jmartin@phillynews.com
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