Rev. Charles F. Engelhardt, o.s.f.s.- Assignment Record

Rev. Charles F. Engelhardt, o.s.f.s.

Summary of Case: A priest of the Oblates of St. Francis DeSales, Engelhardt was charged in February 2011 with orally sodomizing and molesting a 10 year-old altar boy in 1998 and 1999. The charges were the result of a Philadelphia District Attorney's investigation, which also resulted in the arrests of two other priests and a parochial school teacher on similar charges. Arrested, too, for knowingly putting children in harm's way, was a Monsignor who had been Secretary of Clergy for the archdiocese under Cardinal Bevilacqua. Engelhardt denied the accusations. Englehardt was convicted January 30, 2013.

Ordained: 1977

Start	Stop	Parish	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1977 Philadelphia archbishop was John Joseph Krol (1961-1988)	1983	Salesianum School	Wilmington	DE	Listed as assistant principal in the 1983 Directory.	This was a high school with 1,100-1,220 students, all male.
1983 Anthony Joseph Bevilacqua succeeded Krol (1987-2003)	1992	Northeast Catholic High School Faculty House	Philadelphia	PA		Northeast Catholic had 1680-940 students, all male.
1992	2000	Fr. Judge High School for Boys	Philadelphia	PA		Fr. Judge HIgh had 1,431-1400 students.
1998	2000	St. Jerome's	Philadelphia • As the result of a Philadelphia District Attorney's investigation, Engelhardt was arrested in Feb. 2011 on charges that he orally sodomized and raped a 10 year-old altar boy in St. Jerome's sacristy from 1998 to 1999. Engelhardt was accused also of giving the boy altar wine and showing him pornography. Engelhardt maintained he was innocent. The case went to trial in January 2013.	PA	4/5	St. Jerome's had a school with 831-823 students. Charged in Feb. 2011 along with Engelhardt for the same offenses against the same boy was Edward Avery, an archdiocesan priest who had been defrocked in 2006. The boy's sixth grade teacher, Bernard Shero, was arrested in Feb. 2011 for orally and anally sodomizing the same boy at age 11. Shero was convicted in Jan. 2013. Rev. James Brennan, another archdiocesan priest, was arrested in Feb. 2011 on charges that he had sodomized a 14 year old in 1996, while on leave. Brennan was assigned to St. Jerome's in 1997. Msgr. William J. Lynn, who had been Secretary of Clergy for the archdiocese, was arrested in Feb. 2011 for knowingly putting children in harm's way, "going out of his way to put known abusers into contact with adolescents", which lead to the abuse of at least two more boys. Lynn was convicted in June 2012. The Grand Jury Report details the D.A.'s findings.
2000 Justin Francis Rigali replaced Bevilacqua (2003- )	2005	Mater Dolorosa	Philadelphia	PA	1/1, 1/2	Mater Dolorosa had a school until 2003 with 196-125 students, and a religious education program with 25 students.
2005	2007	St. Anthony of Padua	Wilmington	DE	3/5	St. Anthony's had a grade school with 364 students and a high school with 595 students. It also had a religious education program with 45-58 students.
2007	Dec. 2010	Resurrection of Our Lord	Philadelphia	PA	2/2, 2/3 Parochial Vicar	Parish had a school with 609-510 students and a religious education program with 113-62 students. Engelhardt was ordered to leave this parish when the archdiocese was notified of sexual abuse allegations against him on Jan. 30, 2009. He was found to still be at the parish doing office work in Dec. 2010. The archdiocese told news sources that they "intervened and it ended."
2009	Feb. 2011	Villa De Sales Oblate Residence	Wyndmoor	PA
Feb. 2011						A trial scheduled for early Sept. 2012 was postponed indefinitely, due to a death in the family of a defense attorney. Englehardt was convicted January 30, 2013.

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1978-2010)

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Engelhardt's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with ... as it is reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on Jan. 30, 2013