Altar Boy

Seven years after the Camden Diocese removed James F. Hopkins from the ministry amid claims of abuse, Camden County authorities have charged the defrocked Roman Catholic priest with sexually abusing a former altar boy. Hopkins, 60, who served eight South Jersey parishes between 1973 and 1995, was arrested Monday afternoon at his home in Florida, where he relocated after being removed from the priesthood in 1995, authorities said. For Jonathan Norton, the victim in the case, the arrest concluded a long, personal battle to understand what happened to him, and to learn how to fight back.

An unidentified man robbed the collection plate during Mass at St. Andrew Roman Catholic Church in Drexel Hill yesterday morning. With a ski mask and sunglasses covering his face, the man burst into the church as a 16-year-old altar boy was taking the collection plate into the rectory, said Upper Darby Township Police Superintendent Michael J. Chitwood. The robber then ran out of the church in the direction of a trolley stop half a block away, according to several eyewitnesses.

The Rev. James D. Beisel was a shy little boy in the classroom, the one who was content to sit quietly while his classmates did the talking. He was an altar boy, a middle child in a family of six children, who dreamed of being a pilot. His transformation into the man who would lead Bucks County's 229,000 Catholics began in seminary, after he decided to give the priesthood a try. "Here I was, this shy kid from Roxborough, in a place where I was going to have to do public speaking and reading," said Father Beisel, 45. "I thought it would be impossible for me. " But he survived, and ultimately thrived.

A defrocked Roman Catholic priest who grew up in Northeast Philadelphia pleaded guilty yesterday to sexually assaulting an altar boy in Camden County in 1995. James F. Hopkins, who was arrested while living in Stuart, Fla., faces five to 10 years in state prison for second-degree assault. Prosecutors withdrew a first-degree sexual-assault charge, which carried up to 20 years in prison. The plea agreement, negotiated by Assistant Camden County Prosecutor Donna Spinosi, also requires Hopkins to register as a sex offender under Megan's Law. Judge Linda Baxter set sentencing for March 4 in state Superior Court in Camden.

As part of the Earth Day celebration at St. Francis Cabrini School in Fairless Hills, the Rev. Leo Oswald blesses marigolds with holy water. He was assisted yesterday by altar boy Adam Abramowicz.

Facing imminent arrest for the alleged sexual assault of a 10-year-old pupil in his English class, parochial school teacher Bernard Shero penned a sad letter apologizing to his parents for the "ridicule and shame," took an overdose of sleeping pills and waited for death in his Bristol apartment. Death did not arrive on Feb. 10, 2011 but Philadelphia police Det. Andrew Snyder did and the detective told a Common Pleas Court jury today how lucky timing let him arrest Shero instead of follow him to the morgue.

THERE WAS a framed photo over the bar of Billy Murphy's Irish Saloon showing a Roman Catholic High football squad of the early '60s - everybody looking fierce and mean. Everybody, that is, except Billy Murphy. There was the Irish kid, who, despite his reputation as a star running back and a fierce linebacker, had a big grin on his face. That photo told all you needed to know about the jovial Irishman who ran the "Saloonery," as it was popularly called, at Indian Queen Lane and Conrad Street in East Falls for 33 years.

Philadelphia prosecutors have withdrawn their request for the treatment records of a former priest accused of molesting an altar boy, acknowledging that most of the files had either been destroyed or are protected by patient confidentiality laws. The decision came a week after a lawyer for St. John Vianney, the Downingtown treatment center, said the state's Mental Health Procedures Act legally barred it from sharing its files. That same motion to quash the subpoena noted that the medical center typically destroys most patient records eight years after treatment.

Philadelphia prosecutors have withdrawn their request for the treatment records of a former priest accused of molesting an altar boy, acknowledging that most of the files had either been destroyed or are protected by patient confidentiality laws. The decision came a week after a lawyer representing St. John Vianney, the Downingtown treatment center, said the state's Mental Health Procedures Act legally barred it from sharing its files. That same motion to quash the subpoena noted that the medical center typically destroys most patient records eight years after treatment.

Ten months ago, defrocked Catholic priest Edward V. Avery began serving a sentence of 21/2 to 5 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually molesting a 10-year-old altar boy from the Northeast. On Thursday, Avery, 70, returned to a Philadelphia courtroom and recanted his guilty plea - denying any contact with the alleged victim and tossing into turmoil the trial of a former St. Jerome's parish priest and a schoolteacher charged with serially sexually assaulting the same boy in 1998 and 1999.