BishopAccountability.org
Web Site Run by Priest Shuts down

By David O'Reilly
Philadelphia Inquirer
June 6, 2002



A Web site founded by a Montgomery County priest that sold images of men and boys wrestling and posing in tight briefs has shut down.

The site was created in 1998 by the Rev. Glenn Michael Davidowich, pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Byzantine Catholic Church in Mont Clare, whose rectory was the scene for some of the wrestling matches.

But visitors to www.jpwa.com will no longer find photos of young men gripping one another in wrestling poses or gazing at the camera.

Instead, an announcement that the Junior Professional Wrestling Association's board of directors has closed the site now greets those who log on.

"Unfortunately, some in the media are selectively choosing certain images and making incorrect generalizations and assumptions about our organization," the announcement reads.

The site, which sold videotapes and photo packages for about $30, had said that a portion of the proceeds went to support Tomas Mejia, a young California man paralyzed in an auto accident nearly a decade ago.

But a Georgia priest who once supervised the fund told The Inquirer in late May that the fund had closed last year.

A Roman Catholic parish in Orange County, Calif. - which the Web site listed as home to the Tomas Mejia Fund - also said it knew nothing of the fund or even if Mejia was still alive.

Father Davidowich, who has not replied to e-mail questions sent May 24 by The Inquirer at his request, did not immediately return calls yesterday. The site was closed May 29.

He resigned as president of the Junior Professional Wrestling Association last year.

Tony Karl, Web master for jpwa.com, issued a statement saying that the site was intended as a "makeshift attempt to mimic and spoof pro wrestling" and insisting that "we are not, have never been, and will never be, pornographic or sexual."

The statement said "unfair attacks and embarrassment" had forced the site to shut down a week ago. Karl was not available for comment.

He told the Associated Press that the association had sent checks amounting to $5,760 to the fund. But Mejia's mother, Marcela, said she

was unaware of any funds from the wrestling association.

A woman who answered the phone at the Mejia household in Lake Forest, Calif., yesterday said Tomas Mejia's parents were tending to him and were not available for comment.


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