David Prunty

David Prunty, now a 42-year-old social worker living in Minnesota, said that he had a sexual relationship with Allen in the mid-'70s, when Allen was a priest at churches in Vincennes and Princeton, where Prunty then resided.
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The legal age of sexual consent in Indiana is 16, and that law also applied at the time of Allen's relationship with Prunty, Sievers said.
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Prunty told the Evansville Courier & Press Friday night that he was disappointed in the prosecutor's decision.

"Somebody's going to have to answer to why (the abuse) was not reported to begin with," Prunty said."More than one person is going to have to answer to that."

"I'm sure it's difficult for even prosecutors to think about filing charges against priests in their communities, but these are crimes that have been committed," Prunty added.

Allen apologized to parishioners for hurting them and asked them to pray for his victim, David Prunty, now a 42-year-old social worker in Minnesota.

Prunty said the monthslong sexual relationship began when he was 16 and Allen was counseling him following his father's death.He told the Evansville Courier & Press earlier this month that Allen initiated the relationship while Allen was an associate pastor at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Princeton.

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Prunty, in a phone interview, said parishioners in Celestine and other parishes find it easier to blame the victim or dismiss the allegations than confront a pastor's abuse.

"If it was their own children, they'd have a very different response," Prunty said.

On the Net: Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests: http://www.peak.org/(tilde)snapper

Diocese of Southern Indiana: http://www.evansville-diocese.org

Allen apologized to parishioners for hurting them and asked them to pray for his victim, David Prunty, now a 42-year-old social worker in Minnesota.

Prunty said the monthslong sexual relationship began when he was 16 and Allen was counseling him following his father's death.He told the Evansville Courier & Press earlier this month that Allen initiated the relationship while Allen was an associate pastor at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Princeton.

...
Prunty, in a phone interview, said parishioners in Celestine and other parishes find it easier to blame the victim or dismiss the allegations than confront a pastor's abuse.

"If it was their own children, they'd have a very different response," Prunty said.

On the Net: Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests: http://www.peak.org/(tilde)snapper

Diocese of Southern Indiana: http://www.evansville-diocese.org

The teen with whom Allen had the relationship, David Prunty, is now a 42-year-old social worker living in Minnesota.He said Tuesday that he had long been waiting to hear church officials acknowledge the relationship.

"It's affirmation after all these years that what happened to me was harmful.Finally, I'm no longer alone," Prunty said.

But he also said he believed Allen should be punished as any other professional who had violated the ethical standards of care.

"Every parent in every parish in the Evansville diocese must be asking themselves the same question, 'Are my children really safe?"' Prunty said.

The relationship between Prunty and Allen, which lasted more than a year, began after the priest began counseling Prunty, who had been hospitalized for depression after the death of his father.Allen then was an associate pastor at St. Joseph Church in Princeton.

Prunty first wrote to Gettelfinger, who became bishop in 1989, about the relationship in 1993 and the bishop called Allen out of active duty with the U.S. Army in Korea.
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The diocese acknowledged the relationship in a letter to Prunty in 1994, but refused a request from his attorney for $150,000 in damages.Prunty in 1998 sent a letter to the bishop threatening to tell his story.

The Evansville Courier & Press on Sunday reported the allegations against Allen and the Rev. Mark Kurzendoerfer, 47, who lives at a church in Haubstadt and is associate pastor of churches in Oakland City and Princeton.

Kurzendoerfer had a relationship with a 14-year-old boy at Washington Catholic High School in 1981, according to diocese documents.

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Allen apologized to parishioners for hurting them and asked them to pray for his victim, David Prunty, now a 42-year-old social worker in Minnesota.

Prunty said the monthslong sexual relationship began when he was 16 and Allen was counseling him following his father's death.He told the Evansville Courier & Press earlier this month that Allen initiated the relationship while Allen was an associate pastor at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Princeton.

...
Prunty, in a phone interview, said parishioners in Celestine and other parishes find it easier to blame the victim or dismiss the allegations than confront a pastor's abuse.

"If it was their own children, they'd have a very different response," Prunty said.

On the Net:

Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests: http://www.peak.org/(tilde)snapper

Diocese of Southern Indiana: http://www.evansville-diocese.org

Allen apologized to parishioners for hurting them and asked them to pray for his victim, David Prunty, now a 42-year-old social worker in Minnesota.

Prunty said the monthslong sexual relationship began when he was 16 and Allen was counseling him following his father's death.He told the Evansville Courier & Press earlier this month that Allen initiated the relationship while Allen was an associate pastor at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Princeton.

...
Prunty, in a phone interview, said parishioners in Celestine and other parishes find it easier to blame the victim or dismiss the allegations than confront a pastor's abuse.

"If it was their own children, they'd have a very different response," Prunty said.

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Allen apologized to parishioners for hurting them and asked them to pray for his victim, David Prunty, now a 42-year-old social worker in Minnesota.

Prunty said the months-long sexual relationship began when he was 16 and Allen was counseling him following his father's death.He told the Evansville Courier & Press earlier this month that Allen initiated the relationship while Allen was an associate pastor at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Princeton, Ind.

...
Prunty, in a phone interview, said parishioners in Celestine and other parishes find it easier to blame the victim or dismiss the allegations than confront a pastor's abuse.

"If it was their own children, they'd have a very different response," Prunty said.

Jump to a day:

Allen apologized to parishioners for hurting them and asked them to pray for his victim, David Prunty, now a 42-year-old social worker in Minnesota.

Prunty said the monthslong sexual relationship began when he was 16 and Allen was counseling him following his father's death.He told the Evansville Courier & Press earlier this month that Allen initiated the relationship while Allen was an associate pastor at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Princeton.

...
Prunty, in a phone interview, said parishioners in Celestine and other parishes find it easier to blame the victim or dismiss the allegations than confront a pastor's abuse.

"If it was their own children, they'd have a very different response," Prunty said.

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