NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger
Byzantine Catholic priest who made sexually suggestive videos defrocked over abuse claims
By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on July 26, 2013
A Byzantine Catholic priest who once ran a wrestling website that critics likened to child pornography has been laicized — or expelled from the priesthood — following claims that he sexually abused teenage boys in New Jersey.
Glenn Davidowich, 49, had been on leave from ministry since at least 2011, when the Eparchy of Passaic reached a $200,000 settlement with one of his alleged victims. Davidowich now lives in Manitowoc, Wis.
The eparchy, the equivalent of a diocese in the Roman Catholic church, announced in its monthly newspaper, Eastern Catholic Life, that Davidowich was removed from the priesthood April 2. His expulsion was approved in December by Pope Benedict XVI.
The Byzantine Catholic Church is autonomous from the Roman Catholic Church but remains under the auspices of the pope.
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