Ordination: 1957

Notes: Fr. Ernest Paone was named in the 2018 Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report. Fr. Paone was under investigation for sexually molesting young boys in 1964. Fr. Paone was granted a leave of absence in 1966 and traveled west to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and then to the Diocese of San Diego. According to a letter dated August 14, 1968, Fr. Paone stated that he was living with his brother in Oceanside, California. During the decades between Fr. Paone’s departure from Pennsylvania in 1966 and 1991, Fr. Paone worked as pastor of a parish in Diamond Bar, California. Fr. Paone reported to the Diocese of Pittsburgh that his service included hearing “many confessions in that parish.” Fr. Paone also worked in two parishes in the Diocese of San Diego. Fr. Paone taught in public schools, and attended at least one class at Catholic University in San Diego. Diocesan records in Pittsburgh reveal that Bishop Wuerl granted Fr. Paone’s request to be reassigned on October 22, 1991, to the Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas. In Bishop Wuerl’s 1991 correspondence with the Diocese of Reno, he notes that Fr. Paone had most recently served on a high school faculty in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. In 1994, the Diocese of Pittsburgh received another complaint of child sexual abuse committed by Fr. Paone, and Fr. Paone was sent to St. Luke Institute, an institution known for treating priests accused of child sexual abuse. In a letter to St. Luke, the Diocese of Pittsburgh acknowledged that Fr. Paone had been teaching seventh and eighth grade students in the Diocese of San Diego for 19 years. In 1994, Bishop Wuerl informed the relevant Dioceses in California of the most recent child sexual abuse complaint against Fr. Paone. However, in 1996, at the request of the Diocese of San Diego, Bishop Wuerl signed an affidavit which stated, among other things, the Fr. Paone has “not had any problems involving sexual abuse, any history of sexual involvement with minors or others, or any other inappropriate sexual behavior.” In 2002, another victim came forward alleging that he was sexually abused by Fr. Paone in the 1960s. 

Assignments:

1957-1960 St. Titus, Aliquippa, PA

1960-1961 Epiphany, Uptown, Pittsburgh, PA

1961 Mother of Sorrows, McKees Rocks, PA

1961-1962 St. Monica, Wampum, PA

1961-1962 St. Theresa, Koppel, PA

1962-1966 Madonna of Jerusalem, Sharpsburg, PA

1966-2001 Leave of Absence/Health Reasons (including the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Diocese of San Diego, California)

2002-2011 Unknown

2012 Died