ILLINOIS
Belleville News-Democrat
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
gpawlaczyk@bnd.com
A Belleville Catholic Diocese parish in southeastern Illinois is without a priest following a controversy involving a church laptop computer that was found to have pornography on it, according to a parish leader.
The Rev. Bernardine Nganzi, who is originally from Uganda, has not been at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Lawrenceville for several months, parishioners said.
The computer was removed from the priest’s office in the church rectory, or living quarters, by local church officials as part of an investigation, according to Larry Pulleyblank, president of the St. Lawrence Catholic Church parish council. Pulleyblank said he was told by a representative of Bishop Edward K. Braxton that the investigation of the computer turned up no child-related sexual images. It was turned over to the diocese and examined by the FBI in October or November.
“There was no child pornography,” said Pulleyblank. He said he personally saw icons on the screen that indicated there was pornography on the computer, but did not view the videos.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.