Three former Catholic clergy who served in Cobb face sexual abuse allegations

MARIETTA (GA)
Marietta Daily Journal

November 7, 2018

By Jon Gargis

Three clergy members who served in Catholic churches in Cobb County in years past have been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of a minor, according to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta.

The three were among 15 priests, deacons, seminarians and other religious staff named Tuesday in a release by the diocese who are accused of sexual abuse within the archdiocese or elsewhere “in a spirit of transparency and the hope of continued healing for the survivors of abuse,” Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory wrote in a statement accompanying the list.

Tuesday’s release did not go into specific allegations against any of the named clergy, such as the number of incidents alleged, where they occurred or when, but says that the list covers the period from the establishment of the Diocese of Atlanta in 1956 — it became an archdiocese six years later — to the present.

Among the seven named priests was John Douglas Edwards, whose last listed place of service was St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Kennesaw from 1987 to 1989. Edwards also served in 13 other churches following his 1961 ordination, according to the archdiocese, which lists his year of death as 1997.

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