Priest

PITTSBURGH - A suspended Catholic priest expressed remorse to everyone but the young boys depicted in pornography Wednesday before he was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for collecting more than 5,000 images of child porn on his computer, in books and on compact discs. The sentence that the Rev. Bartley Sorensen, 63, received was more than the five-year mandatory minimum sentence he sought but less than the 10-year maximum he faced. "I served the diocese for 35 years.

The Rev. Mary E. Laney, 71, an Episcopal priest and advocate for social justice who served congregations in Philadelphia and Gladwyne, died of cancer Monday, Nov. 19, at Lankenau Hospital. Rev. Laney, a native Philadelphian, was the rector of St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church in the city's Feltonville section for 15 years until about 2005. Until her death, she was assistant rector of St. Christopher's Church in Gladwyne. She was a leader of Philadelphia Interfaith Action, a faith-based community advocacy group that pressured public officials and business leaders on issues ranging from gun violence and public safety to affordable housing.

Religion is onstage everywhere lately: New Jerusalem by David Ives at Lantern; Angels in America by Tony Kushner at the Wilma; A Bright New Boise by Samuel Hunter at Simpatico; Grace by Craig Wright in New York; and opening soon, Philadelphia Theatre Company's Stars of David , a musical based on Abigail Pogrebin's book. And all this just since the season started last month. Add to this list Curio Theatre's The Runner Stumbles by Milan Stitt, a drama about a catastrophic love affair between a priest (Steve Carpenter)

    Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said Monday that he had reinstated a Philadelphia priest whose case city prosecutors cited as proof that the archdiocese failed to properly investigate clergy sex abuse or misconduct. The Rev. Joseph DiGregorio had been accused of molesting a teenage girl in the late 1960s. His case was a focal point of the scathing 2011 grand jury report about the handling of abuse cases by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and he was among the first of 26 priests placed on leave as church officials reexamined allegations against them.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said Monday that he had reinstated a Philadelphia priest whose case city prosecutors cited as proof that the archdiocese failed to properly investigate clergy sex abuse or misconduct. The Rev. Joseph DiGregorio had been accused of molesting a teenage girl in the late 1960s. His case was a focal point of the scathing 2011 grand jury report about the handling of abuse cases by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and he was among the first of 26 priests placed on leave as church officials reexamined allegations against them.

Thanks to a sharp-eyed Episcopal priest, Haddonfield police have arrested and charged a pair of suspected copper thieves. "Don't mess with a priest," the Rev. Patrick Close of Grace Church on Kings Highway posted on his Facebook page Tuesday. Close saw two young men the previous day in an area of the church grounds not open to the public and went out to question them, he reported. They departed, but when he left that night, Close noticed the rectory's copper downspouts were gone.

DEAR ABBY: I am a 42-year-old woman who has wanted to write to you for years. I'll soon celebrate my 20th wedding anniversary. I am very unhappily married. I married "Bill" for all the wrong reasons. I never truly loved him the way a woman should love a man but remained in the marriage because I am "supposed to. " He's a wonderful husband and father and has a job that pays well. I work part time. Bill and I get along just fine. He is easy to talk to, and we're very good friends. I don't want to lose that.

A Philadelphia judge reinstated felony sex-abuse charges on Tuesday against the Rev. Andrew McCormick, the 56-year-old priest charged with assaulting a 10-year-old boy in 1997 when he was a priest at the St. John Cantius Church in the city's Bridesburg section. In August, a Municipal Court judge stunned prosecutors by dismissing the most serious charges against McCormick at a preliminary hearing. The District Attorney's office appealed and Common Pleas Court Judge Paula Patrick reinstated felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault and sexual assault.

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.