Do you remember Catholic priest Rev. James McGonegal? No... he was
indicted in October on felony charges that he solicited sex from an undercover park ranger.
A Cuyahoga County grand jury today returned a three-count criminal indictment charging the Rev. James McGonegal, the 68-year-old pastor of St. Ignatius of Antioch Church, with soliciting sex from an undercover ranger at Edgewater Park two weeks ago.
Because McGonegal is HIV-positive, and failed to tell the ranger that, the soliciting charge is a third-degree felony.
It amazes me sometimes, what people will do to get off. Here we have a HIV positive Catholic priest attempting to engage in high-risk anonymous public sex. In the pursuit of short term pleasure, he could have passed along a deadly disease. I am willing to bet that this case represents the time he was caught and not all the times he engaged in high-risk sex.
Rev. James McGonegal, who should not be a priest and who should be in locked away as a public menace, was replaced by the archdiocese of Cleveland. Instead, he's been allowed to resign.
Bishop Richard Lennon of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese accepted McGonegal's resignation as pastor on submission. Lennon then appointed the Rev. Michael Troha as the church's new leader. Troha was pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Willoughby since 2004.
The change was effective Dec. 10.
The announcement was made in Friday's edition of the biweekly Catholic Universe Bulletin, the diocesan newspaper.
Source: West Side Cleveland parish has new pastor after resignation of priest indicted for soliciting by Tom Feran
The Catholic Church is a mess. I don't know that it can be fixed.
