PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA TV
November 12, 2018
By Andy Sheehan
Since the release of the grand jury report on clergy sex abuse, Bishop David Zubik has been steadfast that he has never protected predator priests or covered for their actions.
“I think I’ve done an awful lot of good and I can say honestly, absolutely I did not do anything that would be part of a cover-up,” Zubik said in August.
But KDKA-TV News has learned that more than two months ago, two people reported that they had been sexually abused by Fr. Richard Lelonis and that as of Monday, Lelonis was still not listed on the diocesan website as having a credible allegation against him.
A man who did not wish to be identified confirmed to KDKA-TV’s Andy Sheehan that both his uncle and cousin reported to the diocesan clergy abuse line that Lelonis abused them while a pastor at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in the late 1990s, but despite its own policies, the diocese has taken no action.
Sheehan: “The diocese says now when they have a credible allegation, they report it to the District Attorney, they remove the priest from ministry and they make that name public. Have those things happened?”
Victim’s relative: “They have to make it known publicly and then also treat the victims or the accusers pastorally as well and reach out to them and neither of those things have been done.”
KDKA has also learned that Lelonis is one of several dozen priests accused in the past of sexually abusing a minor but who have successfully had their names redacted from the grand jury report.
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