St. Louis Priest Convicted in Colorado Gets Probation

By Jesse Bogan
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
September 27, 2013

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/st-louis-priest-convicted-in-colorado-gets-probation/article_ef6cc581-b62c-5989-8747-1cbaec78a8f3.html

The Rev. Charles Manning, a priest of the St. Louis Archdiocese, was arrested Tuesday May 22, 2012 in Colorado Springs, Col. and charged with sexual assault on a minor by a person in a position of trust, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

A 78-year-old St. Louis priest on trial in Colorado was sentenced this week to four years probation for being a bad influence on a teenager who'd come to him for guidance about the Catholic faith.

The Rev. Charles Manning was convicted in July on two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor; he was acquitted of an additional charge of sexual assault of a minor.

Court testimony and evidence convinced the jury that Manning was guilty of giving alcohol and marijuana to the 16-year-old boy and a friend, according to a report in The Gazette, a daily newspaper in Colorado Springs. The judge in the case reportedly considered jail time for Manning but thought he'd spend all of it in a hospital wing.

Manning showed up to Thursday's sentencing hearing in a wheelchair.

Colorado Springs Bishop Michael Sheridan, a former auxiliary bishop of St. Louis, removed Manning as pastor of St. Gabriel the Archangel parish after the accusations against him were found to be credible.

Before moving to Colorado in 2007 from St. Louis, Manning served in the Archdiocese of St. Louis at Immacolata in Richmond Heights, St. Alban Roe in Wildwood, St. Lawrence the Martyr in Bridgeton and St. John Lateran in Imperial.

During the investigation, Manning was living in Shrewsbury at the Regina Cleri Home for retired priests.

jbogan@post-dispatch.com 314-340-82553