Priest Flees to Ireland After Alleged Molestation

A 71-year-old Jesuit priest who served for two years at a Tujunga church fled to his native Ireland after learning he was under investigation for allegedly fondling a 9-year-old girl, the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced Monday.

Father Patrick M. Kelly, a visiting priest at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, was charged Monday with misdemeanor counts of child molestation and sexual battery.

Kelly and his Jesuit superior in Ireland have promised that he will return to face the charge, said a spokesman for the archdiocese, Father Gregory Coiro. But Kelly earlier disobeyed his “assurances he would remain” in the area pending the police investigation of the alleged Sept. 26 fondling of the Sunland girl, Coiro said.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney’s office said the priest allegedly kissed and fondled the girl when he came over to her house to counsel her about a dispute with a neighbor.

As soon as church officials learned of the allegation, Kelly was removed from the Tujunga church, Coiro said.