PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
Martha Woodall, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: Wednesday, January 9, 2013
The Jesuits have told the Philadelphia district attorney that they received a credible allegation that one of their priests had inappropriate physical contact with a student at St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in North Philadelphia in the 1970s.
The Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus said Tuesday that a former St. Joe’s Prep student reported that the Rev. Stephen M. Garrity – a graduate of the school – engaged in inappropriate sexual touching while teaching at the school from 1971 to 1979.
Bill Avington, St. Joe’s Prep spokesman, said Tuesday that the private Catholic boys’ school had notified more than 9,000 members of its community, including alumni and parents, of the allegations against Garrity.
The student, who has requested anonymity, reported the allegations to provincial officials in Towson, Md., last fall and has been offered counseling.
The Jesuits said Garrity, 73, has not been in the ministry since 2007, when he was removed as pastor of Holy Cross parish in Durham, N.C., for sexual misconduct with adults. He now lives in a monitored community with other Jesuits.
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