PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 24, 2018
By Andrew Goldstein
A Butler County priest has been placed on administrative leave following an allegation of sexual abuse of a boy in the 1980s, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh announced Saturday.
The Rev. Joseph Feltz, 65, most recently served as pastor of St. Christopher Parish in Prospect. He was named in a lawsuit filed earlier this month with other priests who were accused of being part of the “ring of predatory priests” described by the state grand jury report released in August on sexual abuse in the church.
Father Feltz was not named in the grand jury report and has denied the abuse allegation, according to the diocese.
The lawsuit, filed Nov. 15 in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, said that Mark A. Pearce, 48, of Raleigh, N.C., was abused when he was a minor by Father Feltz and the Rev. George Zirwas, two who were part of what the grand jury report called a “ring of predatory priests” active in the 1970s and 1980s, along with the Revs. Robert Wolk, Francis Pucci and Richard Zula.
According to the court filing, Mr. Pearce was abused in the rectory by priests Zula, Pucci and Feltz.
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