Franciscan University Names Five Priests Accused of Sexual Misconduct

By Paul Giannamore
WTOV TV
April 12, 2019

https://wtov9.com/news/local/franciscan-university-names-five-priests-accused-of-sexual-misconduct

Franciscan University of Steubenville has released the names of five priests accused credibly of unwanted sexual advances. The release came as part of a report by an independent consultant hired to review university records amid the ongoing clergy sexual abuse scandal.

The review of university records from the late 1960s to the present was done by the Husch Blackwell Legal Firm. It found 14 potential cases of unwelcome sexual contact against students by clergy, all reported no later than 2013.

The report found no instances after 2013, when the university undertook reforms and reporting procedures.

The names of five priests with at least one substantiated claim were released.

They include:

Franciscan Friar Sam Tiesi, who died in 2001; Friar John McGuire, formerly Father Conrad McGuire, who lost his clerical state in 1988; and Friar Simeon Daniel Mulkern, who died in 2016.

Additionally, John Bertolucci, a priest of the Diocese of Albany, New York, who died in 2015 and Vincent Inghilterra, a Trenton, New Jersey priest who was removed from ministry in 2013, were listed. Bertolucci and Inghilterra both were named as having substantiated allegations against them in their dioceses or other institutions, not while at the university.

The university said the disclosure is not a finding of guilt or civil liability, nor are there clerics with substantiated reports of unwelcome sexual contact currently ministering or working at Franciscan.

A report made by a different firm in October handled reports of student sexual misconduct. That report found the university staff is complying with a policy on discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct.