Church seeks priest's possible victims

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PITTSBURGH, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- A Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese spokesman said letters will be sent to three institutions asking if anyone was harmed by a priest who served them in the 1990s.

The Rev. Ronald Lengwin said Franciscan friar, the Rev. Michael Ledoux, was the pastor of St. Pamphilus in Beechview from 1993 to 1995, principal of Serra Catholic High School from 1995 to 2000 and said mass on a regular basis at St. Angela Merici in White Oak in 1999 and 2000.

Ledoux was discovered to have been accused of molesting a boy in 1986 or 1987 when he was a pastor in Derry, N.H. Ledoux recently resigned from his nine years of work at Widener University near Philadelphia after it was revealed that in 2003 the Diocese of Manchester, N.H., received a complaint of the alleged sexual abuse.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests released documents on the 2003 accusation and had planned to protest outside the chancery in Pittsburgh Wednesday to demand the diocese actively try to find out whether Ledoux victimized anyone.

The pastors of the two churches plan to make announcements this weekend and send letters requesting parishioners contact either the Pennsylvania state or diocesan abuse hotlines if they were hurt by Ledoux "or anyone representing the church," Lengwin said.

The principal and superintendant of the high school will send an identical letter to all alumni, he said.

"No allegation was made to us at all while [Ledoux] was in Pittsburgh," Lengwin said.