PITTSBURGH (PA)
The Irish Times

August 19, 2018

Rev John David Crowley for decades was the hero of Holy Angels until he abruptly retired in 2003

Everything felt normal until the news alert popped up on Cindy Depretis’ cellphone Tuesday afternoon. It was a link to a list of the hundreds of Catholic priests in Pennsylvania accused of abusing children in a bombshell grand jury report. She scrolled to the names of priests near Pittsburgh.

“I got to the Cs,” she recalled tearfully as she sat in her office at Holy Angels Parish. Friends started to text her. “Is that our Fr Crowley?” She could only force out one word: yes. The Rev John David Crowley for decades had been the hero of Holy Angels, a white clapboard church in southeast Pittsburgh, tucked below the bypass, by the old narrow-gauge railroad running along the creek. He…