Priest in Blair County suspended over 1990s child sex abuse allegation

PENNSYLVANIA
The Patriot-News

By The Associated Press
on March 25, 2013

NEWRY, Pa. — A central Pennsylvania bishop has suspended a priest and ordered him to have no contact with children because of a child-sex allegation dating to the 1990s which is being investigated by the district attorney.

Bishop Mark Bartchak, who heads the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona and Johnstown, suspended 58-year-old Monsignor Anthony Little on Friday after referring the allegation to Blair County District Attorney Richard Consiglio.

Consiglio wouldn’t detail the allegation, except to say it remains under investigation. Little has been forced to step down as pastor of St. Patrick Church in Newry, about 90 miles east of Pittsburgh.

The priest who pastored the parish before Little was the Rev. William Rosensteel. He committed suicide by jumping from a bridge following sex abuse allegations that surfaced in 2007.

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