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	Ex-Priest Tied to Child Sex Abuse Case Resigns Post with Local Church Group By Jeremy P. Kelley Dayton Daily News April 19, 2011 http://m.daytondailynews.com/dayton/db_101691/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=GDFM0hyE&detailindex=0&pn=0&ps=8 DAYTON — A former Catholic priest who was part of a high-profile child sex abuse lawsuit involving the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin in 1994 resigned his role as a "Eucharistic Presider" with a small church community in Dayton on Tuesday amid public complaints. Ellis Harsham had volunteered for several years at Living Beatitudes Community, a group of mostly gay Catholics who meet weekly in rented space at Christ Episcopal Church downtown. He did not return phone calls seeking comment, but has denied a "substantiated" allegation that he had sexual contact with a minor as a Catholic priest in the early 1970s. Laura Grimes of Oakwood, who served as a minister with the group last year, recently began pressuring community leaders to suspend Harsham after she learned of his 1994 forced removal from priestly duties by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati and his 2006 voluntary defrocking, or laicization, by Pope Benedict XVI. Grimes confronted the community about Harsham during its Palm Sunday service, then contacted news media.
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