He is freed on bond to appear in court Aug. 9 in Albemarle
By Michael Hewlett
JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: July 9, 2010
A chaplain at Bishop McGuinness High School turned himself in yesterday on charges that he molested a 14-year-old boy 33 years ago at a church in Albemarle.
Albemarle police charged Father Joseph Kelleher, 82, of 1525 Wood St. in Winston-Salem with one count of indecent liberties with a child.
He was released on a $5,000 bond. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Aug. 9 in Albemarle, according to Albemarle Police Chief Ronnie Michael.
Kelleher is on administrative leave from Bishop McGuiness.
Michael said the allegation is that Kelleher abused the boy in 1977, while Kelleher was pastor of Our Lady of Annunciation in Albemarle. He served the church from April 1973 to August 1977.
The allegations surfaced in September in an Internet chat room for clergy-abuse victims. A man wrote in a post that Kelleher had repeatedly molested him at a church in Albemarle and asked for advice on what to do.
Other people in the chat room encouraged him to go to the police. The man then contacted the Albemarle police department. Separately, an anonymous e-mail directed officials at the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte to the man’s posts in the chat room.
After reading the posts, officials at the diocese contacted the Stanly County Department of Social Services and the church started an internal investigation.
Kelleher will be on administrative leave until the investigation is over, said David Hains, a spokesman for the Charlotte diocese.
“When you have a credible allegation of sexual abuse, it puts the safety of children at risk,” he said.
Seth Langdon, an attorney for the victim, declined to comment yesterday, saying he didn’t want to do anything that would interfere with Kelleher having a fair trial.
Kelleher began his service with the church in 1966 and retired in 1999. He previously served with Bishop McGuinness twice, in 1970 and in 1993, the diocese said.
After his retirement, he went back to Bishop McGuinness. He also served congregations in High Point, Asheboro and Lexington. Kelleher also had led a youth Mass at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Kernersville. It was unclear yesterday whether Kelleher was still leading that Mass.
A call to Father Paul Dechant of Holy Cross was not immediately returned.
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One-time Charlotte priest accused of sexual misconduct
Chaplain, on leave pending investigation by diocese, is scheduled to be arrested today.
tfunk@charlotteobserver.com
A Catholic priest who served in two Charlotte parishes in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s is set to be arrested today, accused of sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old boy in Albemarle in 1977.
The Rev. Joseph Kelleher, 82, has also been placed on administrative leave by the Diocese of Charlotte, pending further investigation. The Ireland-born priest retired in 1999, but since then has served as chaplain at Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School in Kernersville, said diocese spokesman David Hains.
In Charlotte, according to a list on the diocese’s website, Kelleher served at St. Patrick Cathedral from September 1966 until April 1968, and at Our Lady of the Assumption from August 1977 to July 1986.
Albemarle Police Chief Gerald Michael told the Observer that his office talked with Kelleher on Wednesday and that Kelleher agreed to come to the Albemarle police department today. He will be charged with one count of taking indecent liberties with a child, police said.
Michael said the incident is alleged to have occurred in 1977 on the grounds of Our Lady of the Annunciation Catholic Church in Albemarle. Kelleher was assigned there from April 1973 to August 1977.
Hains said the diocese’s Review Board is conducting its own investigation.
When reached by phone, Kelleher said diocese officials had asked him not to comment.
Michael said his office received the report “months ago” and has been investigating since.
“We contacted the diocese after we got the report,” Michael said Wednesday.
Hains said the diocese received a “semi-anonymous e-mail” in late January or early February from someone – not the alleged victim – who suggested officials there look at a chat site on the Internet that mentioned Kelleher.
Hains said the diocese contacted Stanly County Department of Social Services in February.
This week, the diocese put a notice on its website about Kelleher’s administrative leave and the alleged incident.
Kelleher came to North Carolina in 1966, Hains said, when the Diocese of Raleigh had jurisdiction over the entire state. The Diocese of Charlotte was established in 1972.
Kelleher also served at St. Dorothy Catholic Church in Lincolnton (from July 1998 until he retired in July 1999) and also at churches in Greenville, N.C.; High Point; Raleigh; Asheboro; Waynesville; Asheville; Hendersonville; and Lexington.