PENNSYLVANIA
York Daily Record
Watch: Clergy abuse victim wants priests publicly named – video
Brandie Kessler, bkessler@ydr.com August 9, 2016
A five-month investigation by the York Daily Record found evidence of allegations of sexual abuse against 15 priests with ties to the Harrisburg diocese.
Their names were provided through news reports, court documents, information from the Harrisburg diocese, interviews with attorneys and others, or from www.BishopAccountability.org, a website that tracks reporting and public documents about accused clergy.
The Harrisburg diocese said survivors of clergy abuse should report the abuse to law enforcement, the state ChildLine number at 1-800-932-0313, and to the diocese at 1-800-626-1608.
Here are details about each of the priests identified by the York Daily Record’s investigation:
* In April 2002, John G. Allen was “confronted by the Diocese with a credible accusation” from an incident 23 years earlier, the diocese said. Allen was pastor at St. Margaret Mary Parish in Harrisburg at the time of the accusation, and he resigned. He was removed from all active ministry, the diocese said, and is now laicized, a term that means he made a request to be removed from the priesthood. According to “The Official Catholic Directory,” Allen was the director of Catholic Youth Activities for the Harrisburg diocese from 1976 to 1977 and from 1979 to 1980.
* Alleged abuse by John Bostwick III took place during 1980 to 1982 and was reported to the diocese in 1996, the diocese said. By then, it said, Bostwick had been reassigned to the Diocese of Richmond, which was notified, and Bostwick was removed from ministry. The Harrisburg diocese said Bostwick had been assigned to Mount St. Mary’s College by the Richmond diocese and helped on weekends with Masses at St. Catherine Laboure Parish in Harrisburg. The Rev. John R. Bostwick III is listed as a contact for Coventry at Horseshoe Mountain in Roseland, Virginia, on the Nelson County, Virginia website. Bostwick could not be reached for comment.
* Gerald Bugge was assigned to St. Anthony of Padua in Lancaster from Aug. 19, 1986, until April 19, 1988, according to the Harrisburg diocese. Bugge was named on a list of priests issued by the Archdiocese of Baltimore in September 2002. The list included priests who had served in the archdiocese and who had been accused, in their lifetimes, of child sexual abuse. The archdiocese posted on its website that, “In 1985, Father Gerald Bugge admitted to engaging in inappropriate sexual activities with a minor in 1985. These allegations were reported to the Redemptorists, and Father Bugge’s faculties were removed.” The Harrisburg diocese said there is no record of a credible allegation against Bugge while he was assigned to the diocese. Bugge is dead.
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.