Pastor resigns after admitting abuse

CRESTWOOD, Mo. -- A Roman Catholic pastor at a church in this St. Louis suburb has resigned after admitting he sexually abused a teenage boy 24 years ago.

The Rev. Robert F. Johnston stepped down last week from Our Lady of Providence Roman Catholic Church after acknowledging his sexual misconduct that took place at the Sacred Heart parish in Valley Park, another St. Louis suburb.

The victim came forward within the past two weeks, Archdiocese of St. Louis spokesman Jim Orso said. Last week, Orso said, Johnston was summoned to archdiocesan headquarters, admitted the abuse and was told to resign.

At Saturday's evening Mass and at the three Masses on Sunday, Monsignor Richard F. Stika, the archdiocese's vicar general, told Our Lady of Providence congregants of Johnston's departure, more than six years after Johnston came to the parish.

The Rev. Glennon Doherty, who had served as associate pastor there, has been appointed the parish's temporary administrator until a new pastor is named in mid- to late January.

"Through me he wanted to say that he was very sorry something from a part of his life -- something he has worked very hard to make amends for with God -- that this part of his life has come back to cause pain and to hurt people," Doherty said.

Orso said Johnston was staying with relatives.

Doherty said the sexual misconduct happened in the last years of Johnston's bout with alcohol abuse, and that Johnston "has been clean and sober for 21 or 22 years."

In an official statement, the archdiocese's said that Johnston has admitted the sexual misconduct "and in accord with archdiocesan policy immediately submitted his resignation."

"He has left the parish. He will no longer function publicly as a priest," the statement said.

The archdiocese encouraged the victim to report the matter to authorities, Orso said.

St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch said Sunday he had no information on the incident. Whether the statute of limitations has run out, he said, depends on the nature of the allegations and the exact time the abuse took place.

Besides Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Providence parishes, Orso said Johnston also served at St. Martin de Porres in Hazelwood; St. Joachim in Old Mines, Mo.; and the defunct parishes of St. Catherine of Sienna in Pagedale and St. Mary in Bridgeton.