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	Former Lubbock Chaplain Fired after Abuse Allegations KAMC28.com January 5, 2006 A former chaplain at Covenant Medical Center, suspended in 2002 after allegations of sexual abuse, was back to work in Pennsylvania on Wednesday ... until KAMC-28 contacted his employer. Father Anthony Eremito, a priest under the New York Catholic Diocese, worked at Covenant Medical Center from the late 1990's until 2002. That's when he was formally suspended from the church, and from his job as chaplain, because of allegations of sexual abuse against him. Father John Bambrick, now a priest himself in New Jersey, claims Eremito abused him when he was just 15-years-old. "I was molested by Eremito in 1980," Bambrick told KAMC-28 on Wednesday. "Those of us who are survivors have the responsibility to other children to continue to be advocates on their behalf." Recently, Bambrick discovered Eremito, who is on administrative leave from the church, meaning he can no longer function as a priest, was working at a Pennsylvania hospice. "Unfortunately the diocese doesn't monitor these guys," said Bambrick. "They just kind of unleash them on society and there ought to be some means of tracking, so that corporations (and) charities can find out (so that they won't) go and find jobs among vulnerable children." KAMC-28 contacted Eremito's employer, who said they weren't aware of the priest's background and, after looking into it, terminated his employement. Joseph Zwilling, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of New York, says because of the allegations against him, Eremito had not had an assignment with that diocese since the early '90's, but was able to work in Lubbock. "He had not been formally suspended, no assignment was given to him from New York," said Zwilling. "But with the permission of a local bishop, he would have been able to work as a priest." No criminal charges have been brought against Eremito in court, but his case is pending at the Vatican.
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