Priest faces sentencing in child endangerment case

Albany Times Union
October 8, 2014

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Priest-faces-sentencing-in-child-endangerment-case-5808634.php

A Niskayuna priest who carried on a seven-month relationship with a 15-year-old girl and admitted he endangered the minor is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday in Clifton Park Town Court.

The Rev. James Michael Taylor is not expected to spend time behind bars.

In August, Taylor, who was serving as an associate pastor at St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish in Niskayuna, pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor that carries no more than a year in jail,

Taylor, 30, known as "Father Michael," will receive no jail time when he is sentenced Oct. 8, according to people familiar with the case.

A five-year order of protection prevents Taylor from contacting the victim.

Taylor was arrested earlier this year. Police had said Taylor had physical contact and shared phone calls, text messages and pictures with the girl, who he met a few years ago while serving as a deacon and youth minister at Corpus Christi Church in Clifton Park.

Taylor, who was raised in Georgia, converted to Catholicism as a freshman in college. He completed pre-theology training at Siena College and his studies at Mundelein Seminary at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Chicago.

In 2012, Taylor spoke to The Evangelist, the weekly newspaper of the diocese, about clergy sexual abuse.

"You learn that the frailties of the human condition exist even in the priesthood," he said.