Rev. Joseph Feltz

A Butler County priest has been placed on administrative leave amid allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.

The Rev. Joseph Feltz, 65, who retired in October as pastor of St. Christopher at the Lake Parish, 229 N. Franklin St., Prospect, is accused of sexual abuse of a minor decades ago.

Bishop David Zubik of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh announced the suspension in a news release issued after 5 p.m. Saturday.

And on Sunday, a letter was sent to all of the churches where Feltz had worked during his career, including St. Christopher, according to the Rev. Nicholas Vaskov, a spokesman for the diocese. The letter, he said, contained the same information as the release Zubik issued.

The allegation arose in a recent lawsuit against the diocese, according to the news release, which added that Feltz has denied any wrongdoing, and the diocese has reported the allegations to law enforcement.

Feltz is one of four priests not previously accused of sexual abuse who were named in lawsuits filed Thursday in Allegheny County against the Pittsburgh Diocese.

Feltz and the other three priests — the Revs. Peter Pilarski, John Unger and George Leech — were not named in the statewide grand jury report released in August.

According to published news reports, a 48-year-old man said that he was repeatedly abused as a 9- or 10-year-old altar boy at a church in suburban south Pittsburgh by a group of priests that included Feltz. The abuse would have happened in the 1970s; Feltz would have been in his late-20s.

Feltz became pastor of St. Christopher in February 2010. Before that he was an administrator of St. Anthony Parish in Monongahela for 14 years, according to Butler Eagle records.

Vaskov said that the lawsuit must play out before a final decision is made to determine Feltz’ future with the church.

And once the lawsuit has been handled, “it will go before the Independent Review Board of the Diocese, which handles these cases,” he said.

He continued, “They make a determination of a priest’s suitability for ministration after authorities have made a decision. So it depends on the determination of the law enforcement.”