Rev. Louis A. Telegdy, C.PP.S.

Summary of Case: Accused of sexual abuse at St. Francis parish in Mystic IA, where he was pastor (1956-61). Ordained in 1942, Telegdy lived and worked for 42 years at 14 parishes in 10 states (9 of them as pastor), and 7 of the parishes had schools. Late in his career he was chaplain of a Stockton youth training center in the California prison system for 6 years. Telegdy was finally called back to the Stigmatine's St. Charles Seminary in Carthagena OH in 1984. He died about 10 years later, perhaps in 1995.

Ordained: 1942
Order: Stigmatine priest - Society of the Precious Blood (C.PP.S.)
Died: Late 1990s

Start	Stop	Parish	Town	State	Position	Comment
1942	1951	St. John the Baptist	Hammond (and Whiting)	IN	4/4, 2/4, 2/5, 3/5	Fort Wayne Official Catholic Directory listing. Telegdy was in charge of the altar boys. Stigmatine parish. The parish school was run by the Sisters of Providence. It had 531 pupils in the 1943 Directory and 649 in the 1951 Directory. Whiting was an immigrant community between Gary IN and Chicago.
1951	1952	St. Patrick	Richmond	VA	3/3	Richmond Directory listing. The parish school was run by the Daughters of the Charity of St. Vincent de Paul: 42 boys, 133 girls.
1953		St. James	Maine	MN	Pastor	Assignment is not listed in the Directory, but it is listed in a history of St. James parish. Maine is in western Minnesota; the nearest town of any size is Fergus Falls MN.
1953	1954	Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin	Mayhew Lake	MN	1/1 as administrator, then apparently in residence. The pastor for 1954 is Rev. Eberle.	St. Cloud Directory listing. Listed as administrator in the 1953 Directory, but in the 1954 Directory, the index locates him at this Annunciation church, but in the diocesan entry, Telegdy is not listed, even as an administrator. Mayhew Lake is in northeastern Minnesota, a few miles from the Canadian border.
1954	1956	Our Lady of Good Counsel	Cleveland	OH	3/6	Cleveland Directory listing. The parish school was run by Sisters of the Precious Blood: 1,140 pupils in the 1955 Directory, and 1,183 in the 1956 Directory. This was a Stigmatine parish.
1956	1961	St. Francis	Mystic • Telegdy is accused in a lawsuit of sexual abuse during his time at this parish.	IA	Pastor, 1/1.	Davenport Directory listing. St. Francis was one of a small group of parishes in Appanoose County staffed by Stigmatine priests. The core parish of this group was St. Mary's in Centerville, first staffed by Stigmatines in 1938. A lawsuit alleging abuse by Telegdy at St. Francis included the Davenport diocese as a defendant, but the diocese was subsequently dropped from the suit.
1961	1962	St. John the Baptist	Rib Lake	WI	Pastor, 1/1.	Superior Directory listing, and also a parish history. Rib Lake is a small town in rural north central Wisconsin, in the North Woods area.
1962	1966	St. Anthony	Park Falls	WI	Pastor, 1/2.	Superior Directory listing. The parish school was run by Franciscan nuns: 476 pupils in the 1963 OCD, 400 pupils in the 1966 OCD. Park Falls is a medium-sized town in northern Wisconsin.
1966	1968	St. Mary's	Garden City	KS	Pastor, 1/2, 1/3.	Dodge City Directory listing. The parish school was run by the Sisters of St. Dominic: in 1967 Directory, 242 boys, 249 girls; in 1968 Directory, 165 boys, 167 girls. Garden City is a county seat on the Arkansas River in western Kansas.
1968	1972	St. Joseph's	Beulah	ND	Pastor, 1/1, then apparently in residence.	Bismarck Directory listing. For 1968-69, Telegdy is listed as pastor. In the 1970-72 Directories, he's indexed as being at St. Joseph's, but his name doesn't appear in the diocesan entry. Instead, the pastor for 1970 is Rev. William Higgins, and in the 1971-72 Directory, the pastor is Rev. Harold F. Roth.
1972	1974	St. Francis Borgia	Sturgis	KY	Pastor, 1/1.	Owensboro Directory listing. Telegdy was also responsible for two missions: St. Ambrose in Henshaw and St. William in Marion
1974	1976	Sacred Heart	Russellville	KY	Pastor, 1/1.	Owensboro Directory listing. The parish school had 2 lay teachers and 38 pupils in the 1975 Directory. The end year might be 1975; we have not reviewed the 1976 Directory.
1976	1978	St. Pius X	Calvert City	KY	Pastor, 1/1.	Owensboro Directory listing.
1978	1979	St. Anthony	Manteca	CA	In residence, 5/5	Stockton Directory listing. The parish school had 10 lay teachers and 274 pupils. This was a Stigmatine parish, and while Telegdy was in residence, he served as a chaplain
1978	1984	DeWitt Nelson Training Center	Stockton	CA	Chaplain	DeWitt Nelson is a training center for juvenile offenders that opened in 1971 as part of the Northern California Youth Center in Stockton. After living in the At. Anthony rectory in Manteca, Telegdy moved to 470 Northgate Dr., Apt. 25, in Manteca. But by the 1982 Directory, his address is a P.O. box. Perhaps he was back living at the rectory.
1984	1995	St. Charles Seminary	Carthagena	OH		Cincinnati Directory listing. St. Charles is a Stigmatine seminary in the Cincinnati province of the order.

Source: The Official Catholic Directory (New York: Kenedy and Sons, 1943-95).

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 information in 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 Telegdy's long career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with the one known allegation. This assignment record is likely not a complete list of the allegations against Telegdy. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegations we report, and we remind our readers that in the U.S. judicial system, a person is considered innocent until proven guilty.

A Note on Nomenclature: We use the term "assignment record," instead of the more common "service record," because "service" is not an appropriate word for the activities of an abusive priest. Dioceses are often less than forthcoming about the activities of retired priests, but when we can determine those activities, we list them in these assignment records, particularly if they involve ministry. Retired priests remain under obedience to their bishop, and even the activities of laicized priests should be a concern to the diocese.

This assignment record was last updated on 10/28/04.