PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
August 19, 2014
By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A victims’ advocacy group is criticizing the Diocese of Pittsburgh for not alerting the public 11 years ago when it learned that a Boston priest had been accused of committing sexual abuse here in the early 1960s.
The Diocese of Pittsburgh is defending its actions, saying it had no direct information about the allegation when it learned of it in 2003.
The Rev. John P. Carroll, who is supervised by the Archdiocese of Boston, faces a church trial there that could lead to his removal from the priesthood over an allegation that he sexually abused an altar boy at St. Michael Church in Elizabeth in 1962 or 1963. Father Carroll, now 86, is currently restricted from ministry.
Bishop David Zubik sent letters over the weekend to be read at parishes where Father Carroll had served between 1962 and 1972, asking any potential victims to come forward, after the Boston archdiocese notified him this month of the trial. Father Carroll also served at St. Isaac Jogues in Elrama, St. Margaret in Green Tree, St. Susanna in Penn Hills, St. Alphonsus in Springdale and St. Denis in Versailles (now St. Patrick in McKeesport).
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