Lehigh Valley monsignor charged with child pornography

By Tony Rhodin
Lehigh Valley Live
September 13, 2016

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/lehigh-county/index.ssf/2016/09/lehigh_valley_monsignor_charge.html

Monsignor John Stephen Marz.

A monsignor at St. Ann Catholic Church in Emmaus is charged with child pornography and related offenses, according to court records.

The Rev. John Stephen Mraz, 66, was in the hospital on Tuesday morning, said a person who answered the phone at the church at 415 S. Sixth St. Mraz was pastor at the church.

At 10:30 a.m., Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin is expected to announce the results of a sexual abuse investigation involving a member of the Roman Catholic clergy and child pornography, his spokesman said.

The woman at the church said she didn't know about charges against Mraz. She said he has health problems.

Mraz has worked at Reading Central Catholic and Allentown Central Catholic over the years and has held posts in the Allentown Diocese.

A diocese spokesman has declined comment, saying a statement would be released later in the day.

An arrest warrant from Tuesday in District Judge Donna R. Butler's court charges Mraz with child pornography, criminal use of a phone and selling obscene/sexual materials. The date of the offenses is July 25, court papers say.

Mraz was born in Bethlehem and attended Bethlehem Catholic High School and Lehigh University, according to a July 2005 Morning Call article when Mraz was named director of ecumenical and inter-religious affairs for the Diocese of Allentown.