SCRANTON (PA)
WNEP - ABC 16 [Scranton PA]
August 24, 2026
By Joe Kohut
Christopher R. Clay was credibly accused of sexual contact with a minor, prohibited from acting as a priest in 2004 and moved to Texas to continue preaching
The Vatican defrocked a former priest from the Diocese of Scranton who the church said was credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor, the diocese said this month.
Christopher R. Clay, 62, petitioned Pope Leo XIV for dispensation from the clerical state in March, which the pope granted July 24.
That means that Clay, now of Dallas, Texas, cannot celebrate Mass, confer the sacraments, wear priestly garb or assume the title of Father.
The diocese first prohibited him from acting as a priest in 2004, a few years after he was first accused of sexual misconduct, but the church had not taken the step to formally defrock him until this summer.
Clay was ordained in 1998 and, among his assignments, served as chaplain at Bishop Hafey High School in Hazle Twp. in the early 2000s, according to diocese records. That high school closed down in 2007.
Clay had been a priest for just a few years until he was accused of molesting a teenager, according to a 2018 statewide grand jury report that examined sexual abuse by Pennsylvania priests.
In January 2002, then-Bishop James Timlin, of Scranton, received correspondence from a representative of Pope John Paul II that included a letter from a victim’s father accusing Clay an other priests of sexual misconduct while Clay was staying at a 1,000 acre property in Pike County used by the Society of St. John.
The case was referred to the Pike County District Attorney’s Office, but no criminal prosecution ever arose, the grand jury report states. Clay maintained his innocence. He remains on a list maintained by the diocese of priests credibly accused of sexual misconduct.
Clay was suspended from active ministry. Timlin, however, moved to reinstate Clay at some point soon after, which Clay refused, according to the grand jury report.
Clay was granted a leave of absence and moved to the Diocese of Forth Worth, Texas, where he started saying Mass again at a church despite the 2004 prohibition.