THE GUARDIANEx-altar boy who killed himself mourned in church where he was molested
July 10th, 2016
Ex-altar boy who was abused by Catholic priest kills himself, is mourned by friends who warn of many more who suffer.
Brian Gergely, who died at 46, battled alcoholism from the age of 10, amid what a grand jury concluded was widespread rape and abuse in Pennsylvania.
Brian Gergely’s body lay at his funeral mass just feet from where, in the same church, his revered priest had shattered his innocence and trust by molesting him when he was 10 years old.
“The root of all his problems was what happened to him as a kid,” said John Luther, a friend and former schoolmate of Gergely’s at a Catholic elementary school in the small Pennsylvania town of Ebensburg.
