WEST VIRGINIA
Gazette-Mail
Editorial
Ugly allegations have been made, indirectly, against the spiritual leader of West Virginia’s 76,000 Catholics. But everyone should keep America’s justice principles clearly in mind: No criminal charge has been filed against Bishop Michael Bransfield regarding events 30 years ago. Under law, each person is presumed innocent unless convicted. Nobody should rush to judgment.
Testimony in a disturbing Philadelphia trial implied that the West Virginia bishop was connected to child-molesting priests, made suggestive comments to altar boys, and allowed priests to take boys to his beach home. Thursday, Bransfield issued a statement saying, in part:
“I have never sexually abused anyone…. This case has gone on for seven years or more…. Contrary to the statements, I do not own, and never owned, a farm in the Scranton area, upstate New York, or anywhere else, for that matter.
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