PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
May 7, 2014
By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Four religious brothers who taught at North Catholic High School in Troy Hill decades ago have been accused of sexual abuse in the wake of news that yet another brother was facing criminal charges in Australia, the Diocese of Pittsburgh said.
Three of the newly accused Marianist brothers — William Charles Hildebrand, Francis Meder and Ralph August Mravintz — are deceased. The fourth, John Keegan, left the religious order in 1962 and his current whereabouts are unknown, according to the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, vicar general for the diocese.
Brother Mravintz pleaded guilty in 1986 to disorderly conduct — a reduced charge after he had been initially charged with making sexual overtures to a 15-year-old boy and fondling him, according to a story in The Pittsburgh Press on Sept. 10, 1986. The story quoted a prosecutor as saying the reduction in charge was at the request of the family.
In all, the diocese has received six allegations against five brothers as of this morning, said Father Lengwin.
The diocese released the information after Michael Latusek, acting superintendent for Catholic schools in the diocese, sent a letter in March to alumni who attended what is now called Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School during the years that Brother Bernard Hartman served there.
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