Second Blair County friar commits suicide in province under sex abuse investigation

PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

By Mike Wereschagin and Brad Bumsted
Wednesday, July 1, 2015

A Blair County friar hanged himself two days after agents with the state Attorney General’s Office raided another, nearby monastery connected to a sexual abuse scandal, the Blair County Coroner’s office confirmed Wednesday.

The Rev. David Kaczmarek, 53, died around 6 p.m. Saturday at St. Joseph’s Friary in Hollidaysburg, the coroner’s office said. Another friar found him about 8 a.m. Sunday. The Immaculate Conception Province website, of which St. Joseph’s is part, lists Kaczmarek as provincial secretary.

On Thursday and less than four miles away, state investigators raided St. Bernardine Monastery, where a friar accused of molesting children killed himself in 2013. Kaczmarek was not a target of the investigation, a source told the Tribune-Review.

Both the St. Bernardine Monastery and St. Joseph’s Friary are part of the Immaculate Conception province of the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular. St. Joseph’s serves as the province’s home for semi-retired friars, according to the province’s website.

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