NEWS
February 1, 2013 | BY MENSAH M. DEAN, Daily News Staff Writer deanm@phillynews.com, 215-568-8278
MINUTES before former Catholic-school teacher Bernard Shero was convicted Wednesday of raping an altar boy, he joked with the court crier and a deputy sheriff about leaving the courtroom. "Good effort, though," Shero chuckled, when told he couldn't. Shero wasn't laughing for long. On its fourth day of deliberating, a Common Pleas jury convicted Shero, 50, of all five crimes of which he was accused, and convicted his co-defendant, disgraced priest Charles Engelhardt, of four of the five counts against him. The jury deadlocked on one charge against Engelhardt, 66: involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child.
NEWS
May 23, 2002 | Daily News Wire Services
A former altar boy has accused Lexington Bishop J. Kendrick Williams of abusing him 21 years ago, one of a dozen new lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of Louisville alleging its priests sexually abused children. James W. Bennett said he was 12 at the time of the alleged molestation. "I quit going to the church after it happened," he told the Associated Press on Tuesday. Williams proclaimed his innocence yesterday. "I am stunned and saddened by this accusation," he said.
NEWS
September 23, 1989 | By Kitty Caparella, Daily News Staff Writer
Two sides of reputed Junior Black Mafia street boss Aaron Jones emerged at a hearing yesterday to consider whether Jones' $5 million bail for shooting a convicted drug dealer should be reduced. John Jones Jr., a new car salesman, testified that his younger brother, Aaron Jones, 27, of S. 51st Street near Cedar Avenue, is one of 13 children. Aaron Jones was an altar boy at St. Francis DeSales, played sports and chess, worked on the yearbook and graduated from West Catholic High School in 1979 before attending Temple University, his brother said.
NEWS
June 3, 1990 | By Melissa Dribben, Inquirer Staff Writer
James Lombardo's hearing is failing a little, he has an ornery knee and a squinty eye, but otherwise, time appears to have done little to weaken the oldest altar boy in the history of St. Mary's Manor retirement home. When he kneels on the red velvet pad to ring the brass bells during Mass, Lombardo sometimes leans against the marble pillar to ease his descent. When he carries the cut-glass pitcher of wine to fill the priest's chalice, his steps verge on a shuffle. He is 94. These are the small concessions he must make to his age. Lombardo was somewhat mature to make a start as an altar boy. He was 77 and had just moved into St. Mary's Manor in Lansdale.
NEWS
October 4, 2012 | BY MENSAH M. DEAN, Daily News Staff Writer
A PHILADELPHIA judge Tuesday reinstated three felony charges against a Catholic priest who is accused of forcing oral sex on a 10-year-old altar boy in 1997. Father Andrew McCormick sat stoically at the defense table as Common Pleas Judge Paula Patrick held him for trial after a brief hearing on involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault and statutory sexual assault. Those charges were dismissed by Municipal Judge Karen Y. Simmons following an August preliminary hearing, during which the now-24-year-old alleged victim testified that McCormick, 56, straddled him and put his penis on the victim's lips and on his teeth.
NEWS
April 25, 2012 | By John P. Martin and Joseph A. Slobodzian, INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
The two men followed starkly different paths to the witness stand. The 49-year-old was raised in the outer suburbs, graduated from medical school, got married, and had five children. The 23-year-old from Northeast Philadelphia was kicked out of two high schools, attempted suicide, and spent much of the last decade hooked on heroin and prescription drugs. But in tense and emotional testimony to a Common Pleas Court jury on Wednesday, both described a bond: Each said he was sexually abused by his parish priest, Edward Avery.
NEWS
October 19, 2011 | By John P. Martin, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
A former altar boy at a North Philadelphia parish today filed a lawsuit accusing a priest of molesting him for three years in the 1990s and blaming church officials for not preventing the abuse. Filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, the claim by a 28-year-old Philadelphia man said the Rev. William Ayres sexually abused him in the church and rectory at Incarnation of Our Lord parish, as well as at other spots. The lawsuit names the man only as "John Doe 187" but his lawyers say Ayres and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have been told his identity.
NEWS
December 13, 2003 | By Jacqueline L. Urgo INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
In the same peaceful church sanctuary at St. John Bosco Church where Air Force Staff Sgt. Thomas Walkup Jr. once served as an altar boy, mourners yesterday attended his Funeral Mass. Walkup, 25, who grew up in Millville, was aboard a transport helicopter that crashed Nov. 23 during a military support operation near Bagram, Afghanistan, killing five U.S. soldiers and injuring eight others. "I have such fond memories of Tommy, because he was always ready to serve," said Msgr.
NEWS
November 1, 2011 | By John P. Martin, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
A judge said Tuesday that a priest and a teacher accused in a lawsuit of raping a Northeast Philadelphia altar boy could not question the alleged victim until after their criminal trial on the charges next year. Common Pleas Court Judge William J. Manfredi denied the request by the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero to interrogate their accuser and be given access to his medical and personal records. He said the parties in the civil case would not have to exchange evidence until next July.