Joe.My.God. LGBT News
Penn Live reports:
At a news conference Wednesday in Westmoreland County, Attorney General Josh Shapiro called Father John Sweeney of the Greensburg Diocese a predator. Sweeney, 75, is the first priest convicted as a result of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, which recently concluded an investigation into sexually abusive priests and clergy in six of the state’s eight Catholic dioceses, including the Diocese of Greensburg.
According to the grand jury’s presentment, while in fourth grade at St. Margaret Mary Catholic School during the 1991-92 school year, the victim, Josh, was sent to Sweeney for discipline because he had been disruptive on a school bus. The grand jury found that Sweeney used his authority and position as a priest, under the guise of a disciplinarian, to force the victim to perform oral sex on Sweeney in a conference room next to Sweeney’s office inside the St. Margaret Mary Parish.
The victim says he was inspired to come forward after watching the Oscar-winning movie Spotlight. Most than 300 priests have been “credibly accused” by name in the sweeping Pennsylvania investigation.
Inside the Westmoreland Co. Courthouse, Father John Sweeney just plead guilty to sexually abusing a 10 year old boy. 2 decades later, I’m honored to stand next to this courageous victim as he went from “victim to victor”.
We hold these predator priests accountable. pic.twitter.com/mFgPFV25xn
— Josh Shapiro (@JoshShapiroPA) July 31, 2018
Take note of what took place in a Westmoreland County court room. It was there that a victim—now 36—watched his former priest plead guilty to sexually assaulting him when he was just a 10 year old boy. https://t.co/Rp1LFSui5u
— Josh Shapiro (@JoshShapiroPA) August 1, 2018
Note: These charges against Father Sweeney came from the same Grand Jury that wrote the detailed report of widespread sexual abuse and coverup within the Catholic Church which the PA Supreme Court ordered will be released later this month.
— Josh Shapiro (@JoshShapiroPA) August 1, 2018