Retired Munhall Catholic Priest Arrested, Charged with Child Sex Abuse

By Megan Guza
The Tribune-Review
January 25, 2019

https://www.poconorecord.com/news/20190125/retired-munhall-catholic-priest-arrested-charged-with-child-sex-abuse

Allegheny County police Friday arrested a retired Catholic priest for the alleged assault of a 10-year-old boy in 2001, authorities said.

The Rev. Hugh J. Lang, 88, was a priest at St. Therese in Munhall at the time of the alleged assault, said police Inspector Andrew Schurman.

Schurman said the alleged victim, who he did not identify but lives in another country, saw the media coverage of the statewide grand jury report alleging decades of abuse and cover-ups within six Catholic diocese, including the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Schurman said the individual called the Attorney General’s abuse hotline after seeing the coverage, and the complaint was forwarded first to the Childline program and then to county police.

Lang retired in 2006, and the diocese acknowledged the newfound allegations against him in August, placing him on leave. A diocesan spokesman said at the time it was the first allegation leveled against the clergyman.

The alleged victim told police the abuse happened during alter server training, during which Lang pulled him away from the other boys and took him to a room in the basement of St. Therese, according to the criminal complaint.

He told police Lang called him a troublemaker and told him to take off his clothes, according to the complaint. Lang allegedly took a Polaroid photo and told the victim he would show the photo to others if he didn’t behave.