BishopAccountability.org
	Priest Denies Sex Abuse Glenmary Official Awaits Investigation Results By Jane Prendergast The Associated Press, carried in Cincinnati Enquirer [Cincinnati OH] August 18, 2005 A Cincinnati-based mission priest who once served two parishes in the Lexington diocese will stay at Glenmary Home Missioners while he awaits the outcome of sexual misconduct allegations. The Rev. Pete Richardson was pastor at parishes in West Liberty and Owingsville from July 1994 to January 2004. He was accused of misconduct with a minor. He denied the allegations in a meeting Aug. 8 with the executive council of Glenmary, an organization whose mission is to spread Catholicism in small towns and in rural America. Richardson is the director of Glenmary's department of pastoral services, which is in Nashville, Tenn. He has moved to Glenmary's headquarters while the allegations are investigated, said Karen Hurley, spokeswoman for the organization. "That's really all we feel we can say at this point," she said. The agency wanted to get the word out, she said, but at the same time officials need to keep in mind that the allegations have not been proven, and that the priest has denied them. Bishop Ronald Gainer of the Diocese of Lexington on Wednesday got a letter dated Aug. 11 from the Rev. Dan Dorsey, Glenmary's president. The allegations were made Aug. 8, a Glenmary statement said, and Dorsey contacted the county attorney for Morgan County, the location of the alleged abuse. The statement also said Dorsey has made arrangements to meet the alleged victim and has hired Praesidium, a risk management firm based in Arlington, Texas, to investigate the allegations. Neither Dorsey nor Richardson could be reached for comment Wednesday. Hurley said neither would say anything beyond what was contained in the statement. Shaughnessy said the allegations were made to the religious order, not the diocese, and that before receiving the letter, the diocese had not received any allegations of sexual misconduct against Richardson.