Church helped priest accused of sex abuse get Disney World gig

By Tamar Lapin
New York Post
August 15, 2018

https://nypost.com/2018/08/15/church-helped-priest-accused-of-sex-abuse-get-disney-world-gig/

A Pennsylvania priest tortured an altar boy for over a year, sexually abusing him and beating him with a metal cross, then left the church for a gig at Walt Disney World — with a reference from the diocese, a grand jury report found.

The Rev. Edward George Ganster is one of hundreds of priests named in the statewide grand jury investigation, which found that 1,000 children were abused in Pennsylvania for decades, as church leaders shielded their tormentors.

Years after being abused, a married 37-year-old man came forward in 2002 to say that Ganster had fondled and groped him for over a year and a half, beginning when he was 14 and an altar boy at St. Joseph in Frackville.

In one instance, Ganster allegedly dragged the boy across the living room, pulling him by his underwear. He also beat the boy multiple times — including once with a metal cross, the report states.

The victim reported the abuse to the diocese again in 2004, but church officials didn’t bring the report to the Northampton County District Attorney’s Office until 2007.

The mother of a second victim came forward in 2005 to say that her now-adult son had been abused by Ganster in 1977 when he was 13. The parents had allowed their boy to accompany Ganster to the beach on an overnight trip and the teen recounted that Ganster “hurt him and got in bed with him.”

The mother said she immediately told Ganster’s superior, Monsignor Connelly, about the abuse and he told the distraught woman that Ganster would be given counseling and removed from the parish. Ganster announced he had resigned the following Sunday at Mass, but the victim’s life spiraled out of control and he endured multiple broken relationships and anger issues.

In 2015, the mom of a third victim came forward to say her son was abused by Ganster in the summer of 1977 when he was 12.

After being hospitalized at St. John Vianney Hospital in Downingtown in 1988, Ganster eventually left the priesthood to get married, but there were other victims who came forward.

But he had one request — a letter of recommendation for a job at the Orlando amusement park.

Despite knowing that Ganster was a sexual predator, the diocese later gave him a positive reference for a job at Walt Disney World, where he worked for 15 years as a train driver in the Magic Kingdom.

He died in 2014 at 71.