Priest accused of sexual abuse commits suicide

Bietighofer

SILVER SPRING, Maryland (CNN) -- A Catholic priest removed from his position last month amid accusations of sexual impropriety committed suicide Thursday at a mental illness treatment facility for the clergy, law enforcement and church authorities said.

Police responded to a report of a suicide late Thursday afternoon at Saint Luke Institute in suburban Washington and found a man hanging in the room, said Capt. Andrew Ellis of the Prince George's County Police.

While the institute did not release the victim's name, Bishop William Lori head of the Bridgeport, Connecticut, diocese, identified the man as Father Alfred Bietighofer, 64.

"I ask everyone to join me in praying for the soul of Father Bietighofer," Lori said in a statement posted on the diocese's Web site. "With confidence, we entrust him to the Lord's merciful love. May his soul rest in peace."

On April 29, Lori announced that Bietighofer had resigned as assistant pastor of Saint Andrew Parish in Bridgeport a day after the diocese became of the allegations of sexual misconduct.

MORE STORIES   •  Cardinal denies settlement with alledged sex abuse victims  RESOURCES   •  TIME.com: Catholicism in Crisis   •  The pope's letter   •  Interactive: Catholic Church faces scandal   •  In-Depth: Crisis in the Priesthood

"The action was taken following interviews with two men who claimed to have been abused by this priest in the late 1970s and early 1980s," Lori said.

Ordained to the priesthood in 1965, Bietighofer had been assigned to Saint Andrew Parish since last October.

Following his resignation, Bietighofer checked into the Saint Luke Institute, a Catholic psychiatric hospital that specializes in serving clergy and others involved in the church ministry.

The bulk of the facility's work centers on treating anger management, depression, and alcohol and substance abuse, an institute spokesman said. The facility, located 7 miles north of Washington, D.C., currently has about 60 patients and has not had a suicide case in at least five years, he said.

The diocese in Bridgeport, about 50 miles northeast of New York and southwest of Hartford, Connecticut, has been embroiled in the church's priest sex abuse scandal.

Cardinal Edward Egan, a former Bridgeport bishop and now head of the New York archdiocese, has admitted allowing a priest once sent to a psychiatric institution for "serious sexual misconduct" to continue functioning as a priest.

In March 2001, the diocese paid $15 million to 26 plaintiffs to settle sexual abuse claims against eight priests. Lori is now examining the records of all clergy back to the founding of the diocese 49 years ago.