NEW YORK
Times Herald-Record
By Amanda Spadaro
HAMLET OF WALLKILL – Former priest Kevin Gallagher knows he betrayed his parishioners and violated his vows.
Was it wrong to have sex with a young man? Yes, he says.
Should that have disqualified him from remaining a priest? He doesn’t think so.
In March, Gallagher, 65, was officially laicized, or removed from the clergy. He had been suspended from serving as a priest since January 2015.
In 2009, he was the pastor of Pine Bush’s Church of the Infant Saviour.
He first met Michael Kyles when he led the funeral service for Kyles’ twin brother, Tyler. Kyles claims that in 2012, Gallagher gave him money to buy heroin – a drug habit he developed after his twin’s death – and sexually abused him.
Gallagher said he never saw Kyles again until 2013, when a mutual friend reintroduced the two.
Almost immediately, Kyles began borrowing money, Gallagher said.
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