Suffolk Priest, Charged with Domestic Assault, Resigns, by Jeff Sheler, The Virginian-Pilot, December 6, 2011

Suffolk Priest, Charged with Domestic Assault, Resigns

By Jeff Sheler
The Virginian-Pilot
December 6, 2011

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/12/suffolk-priest-charged-domestic-assault-resigns

The Rev. Piotr Bialkowski was charged with domestic assault on Nov. 28.

A Roman Catholic priest has resigned as pastor of two Western Tidewater parishes after being charged with assault on a woman who reportedly mothered his child.

Suffolk police arrested the Rev. Piotr Bialkowski on Nov. 28 and charged him with domestic assault, police spokeswoman Debbie George said today. He was released on a $1,000 surety bond and ordered to appear in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Dec. 15.

George said Bialkowski is accused of slamming a woman against a wall in her home on Benham Court in Suffolk. A friend of the woman pulled Bialkowski off the woman, according to the police report.

In a WVEC report, the woman identified herself as the mother of a 2-year-old child fathered by Bialkowski. She said she and the priest had had a sexual relationship since 2008.

Bialkowski, 36, has served as pastor of St. Mary of the Presentation in Suffolk since June 2006, and at Church of the Good Shepherd in Smithfield since July 2008.

In a letter to the two parishes, Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond said Bialkowski had resigned and been suspended of all priestly duties.

DiLorenzo said the diocese had been “made aware of an accusation of improper conduct” involving the priest but did not go into detail.

“There was an immediate investigation, and Father Bialkowski confirmed that the accusation is true,” the bishop wrote. “He has resigned as Pastor, effective immediately. He has also been suspended from all priestly duties, and will be leaving the parish in the next few days.”