PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review
By Andrew Conte and Brad Bumsted
Thursday, June 25, 2015
HOLLIDAYSBURG — The only way to stop Catholic clerics who abuse children is to prosecute the people who oversee them and let it continue, said an Altoona lawyer who has successfully represented dozens of victims across Pennsylvania.
Attorney Richard Serbin said he thinks agents with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office were pursuing a broader investigation Thursday near this Blair County borough when they raided St. Bernardine Monastery, where a Franciscan friar accused of molesting children killed himself two years ago.
“If they knowingly allow children to be abused or place them in situations where they were likely to be abused, they should be prosecuted,” he said.
Brother Stephen Baker, 62, worked in various roles as a religion teacher and baseball and wrestling coach at Catholic facilities in several states. He was athletic trainer at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown from 1992 to 2001.
In late January 2013, he fatally stabbed himself in the heart at the monastery, where he had been living.
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