WHEELING (WV)
Catholic Sentinel
Catholic News Service
WHEELING, W.Va. — Bishop Michael Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston said the “false hearsay statements” made against him at the recently concluded Philadelphia trial of two priests on sex abuse-related charges have hurt him, his family and the people of his diocese.
In a July 23 letter to the priests and people of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese, Bishop Bransfield said a “hearsay allegation” that he had engaged in improper conduct with a high school student in the 1970s “has been put to rest” by the student in question, now in his 50s, and others.
“I can only repeat what I have stated before publicly: I have never abused anyone,” the bishop said.
The allegation surfaced during the trial of Msgr. William Lynn, former secretary of clergy in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, on charges of child endangerment; he was later found guilty of one count and recently sentenced. His co-defendant, accused of abuse, must be retried after the jury could not reach a verdict in his case.
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