A retired Episcopal priest was arrested on Friday as a result of an investigation by PA State Police into charges that he had unlawful sexual contact with a minor while the priest was still an active clergyman. Ralph Johnson was charged with more than 45 counts ranging from felony to misdemeanor charges.
The particular tragedy here is that earlier concerns that there were problems were dismissed, at least initially, by those charged within the church to investigate.
“Johnson was arraigned before District Judge Suzanne Brainard in Clifford and sent to Susquehanna County Jail on $50,000 bail.
In May 2006, Johnson, then 79, voluntarily renounced his ministerial orders at St. Paul’s after accusations surfaced of sexual misconduct. Johnson, who was rector of the church in the 1970s, left without admitting guilt after the alleged victim filed an affidavit with the diocese, according to reports published in this paper in 2007.
[…]The Rev. David G. Bollinger, rector of the church from 1985 to 2005, said he alerted diocesan officials in Syracuse after receiving complaints of Johnson’s alleged misconduct, but Bishop Gladstone B. Adams rebuffed him.”
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