ANOTHER ONE

Penn. Priest Charged With Indecent Assault After Allegedly Sexually Abusing 17-Year-Old

The Allentown priest was not included in the grand-jury report on sexual abuse in the Pennsylvania Catholic Church.

A priest in Allentown, Pennsylvania, has been charged with one count of corrupting a minor and another count of indecent assault, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin announced during a Tuesday press conference. The Morning Call reports that 30-year-old Kevin Lonergan was accused of sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl in early June, before a grand-jury report released last week accused hundreds of priests in Pennsylvania of abusing more than 1,000 children. Lonergan was most recently an assistant pastor at the Cathedral Church of St. Catharine of Siena. He’d previously served as an assistant pastor at St. Jane Frances de Chantal in Easton. Lonergan’s father was also a deacon at the Allentown diocese. According to Martin, the 17-year-old came forward months after the incident, reporting it to staff at Central Catholic High School. Lonergan was subsequently removed from his posting and “prohibited from public ministry” in June.