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  Diocese Says Jangam Neither Priest nor Orphanage Employee

Associated Press
August 6, 2002

Tulsa — A former Pryor priest who's accused of molesting a teenage girl is now neither a priest nor an orphanage director in his native India, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa said Tuesday.

The diocese said church officials in India told them that the Rev. John Jangam's excommunication remains in effect, that he has married and is not working at the St. Joseph Orphanage as he has claimed.

A 16-year-old Pryor girl has accused Jangam, who was serving in Pryor under the diocese's sponsorship, of repeatedly kissing and fondling her three years ago. Jangam has denied the accusations.

Tulsa diocese Bishop Edward Slattery has said Jangam was excommunicated for separate reasons, lost his visa and had to return to India. But Jangam has told the Tulsa World that he is still a priest and is running the orphanage in Vijayawada, India.

Slattery has written Jangam's former bishop in Eluru, India, John Mulagada, three times about the allegations against Jangam and urged that he be prevented from contact with minors, the diocese said.

 
 

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