The quickest summary is that the FIVE priests COVERED-UP by Wuerl, in his first year as bishop of Pittsburgh were ======>
FATHERS:
1} John Hoehl whom Donald Wuerl personally reinstated into ministryand kept in ministry, even after the so-called "enlightening" dinner that Wuerl had with the family of two lads molested by the three priests mentioned below.
Wuerl reinstated Hoehl and kept him in chaplaincy ministry until the indictments of Frs. Wolk, Zula, and Pucci. Then, Wuerl dropped Hoehl like a very hot potato. If Wuerl were to have kept Hoehl in ministry --- Wuerl would have been inviting a grand jury inquest. Twenty-eight years later, that Grand Jury was finally convened.
2} Robert Wolk (ordained the same year as was Wuerl, thereby indicating that he was Wuerl's classmate.) Ann Rodgers falsely claimed that Wolk was removed "just as Wuerl became bishop." The truth is that
Anthony Bevilacqua placed Wolk on administrative leave, long before Wuerl replaced Bevilacqua. Donald Wuerl was positioning to reinstate Wolk, as he already reinstated Hoehl.
3} Richard "Sade" Zula who did practice Sadism on at least one male youth, This was the only known priest Wuerl was NOT going to reinstate into any type of ministry.
Now, Wuerl has been proven to be lacking in a sense of justice, but he drew a line in the proverbial sand when it came to Sadism. So, Zula was removed from ministry.
Wuerl hid the knowledge of Zula's crimes from law enforcement, despite the Child Protective Services Act. He simply let Zula go about his life. When it came time for DA John C. Pettit of Washington County PA to process Zula's indictment, no one at the Diocese of Pittsburgh knew where Zula was ... so they claimed.
4} Fr. Francis Pucci. He was not laicized or removed from ministry. Rather, he was allowed to conduct the Mass and perhaps Divine Office with a religious order of sisters.
Pucci was indicted, but his indictment was dismissed on the statute of limitations defense. Therefore, Pucci remained on the diocesan payroll. In fact, even the criminal convict, Richard Dorsch, was on the payroll, after his conviction.
In Catholic Canon Law, even criminal priests, after prison time, must be financially supported by their bishops. A bishop does NOT have to reassign a criminal priest who completed a jail sentence. But, he does have to sustain such a priest. Such a thing can keep the priest out of trouble and on a proverbial chain, by which, if he offends again, he's in even bigger trouble than previously.
5} George Zirwas, accomplice of Wolk, Zula, and Pucci. He was not indicted with them. He found his way to Cuba, after a number of sexual aggression accusations were made against him.
While in Cuba, he informed Wuerl that he knew of criminal priests in Wuerl's dioceses and that he (Zirwas) was willing to keep silent about it for a price. Wuerl informed Zirwas that he was to either send the names of the priests or a letter categorically stating that he (Zirwas) knew of no criminal conduct among Pittsburgh priests.
Zirwas sent the Sgt Shultz I-Know-Nothing letter. After that letter was received by Wuerl, Wuerl gave Zirwas a financial bonus.
Zirwas lead the Sodom & Gomorrah lifestyle in Cuba to the extreme.
He was killed by a male prostitute who injected animal tranquilizer into his neck. In response, Wuerl officiated at Zirwas' funeral and reinstated Zirwas to the level of full clerical investiture, all while giving Zirwas a saint's eulogy, even though Zirwas died while engaged in mortal sin up and until the point of time when Zirwas received his lethal injection.
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Ann Rodgers"-Melnick" was a Pittsburgh Post Gazette writer originally from California. Before going to Pittsburgh she worked in the Southwestern sector of Florida where major leaguers do their baseball Spring Training.
Even though She was never a Roman Catholic (or a member of any other rite of Catholicism,) she was given a job in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, as the director for Communications, as if no Catholic on Earth is good enough for the job.
Rodgers fully knew about the James Torquato Retaliations and remained silent about his retaliations. In fact, during the infamous 2002 media rampage on clergy sex abuse, she wrote that, as far back as Wuerl's very first year as bishop of Pittsburgh, he announced a Zero Tolerance Policy, where no priest accused of sexually abusing a minor could ever go back into ministry.
That was a complete falsehood, supported by the evidence of him returning to ministry Frs. John Hoehl and Edward Huff, as well as Ernest Paone who Wuerl willingly transferred to California and then Las Vegas.
Concerning her proven lies, the first one she told the public was that the tiny Donald Wuerl was an ascetic 5'11." The truth is that Wuerl is as short in height as was the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua --- between 5'4 to 5'6." It's simply that Wuerl knew about elevator shoes.
Concerning this, I received a polite phone call from the late George Neumayr, while Neumayr was in Washington, stating that Wuerl stands 5'9" to 5'10." Wuerl even had Neumayr fooled --- thanks to elevator shoes.
Incidentally, George Neumayr died from Malaria, in the Ivory Coast, from Malaria, in 2023 ... during the Biden/Harris years. That administration did not care about protecting human life. They only cared about consolidating power, in a sneaky dictatorial way, while posing as "civil right democrats." Thus, there was no health financing agreement between the USA and the Ivory Coast, during Biden's autopen presidency.
It was the Trump Administration ... in 2025 ... who developed a very charitable health financing agreement. If Biden's People and the mainstream media didn't rig the 2020 election, by lying to the American People, George Neumayr would still be alive ... and he would still be aggravating me. The two of us were NOT on the same page.
Being that I was in Pittsburgh during Wuerl's tenure, and being that he walked up to me, I do know that he is tiny. He did NOT wear elevator shoes while in Pittsburgh. Others who met him also told me that he stood 5'4" to 5'5". One person described Wuerl as "scrawny." A very polite 5'4" woman said to me that Wuerl and her stood "head to head," meaning at the same height.
I know of Wuerl's height and Anthony Bevilacqua's height from a point-blank range personal experience (while standing next to them, in public forum.). In fact, I was surprised to find out how tiny Wuerl was as he approached me, once upon a time. This is because he was made out to be this superior godlike man of masculine stature.
The Donald Wuerl who approached me was exactly like a certain flaming homosexual theater major who would occasionally buzz around our click and take with him one of the guys in the clique who happened to be the son of a certain lieutenant governor ... at the time. I remember being shocked to find out that Wuerl was a ... uhm ... a ... flamer; and a very unfriendly flamer, at that.
The bottom line is that you cannot instantly trust as true anything written by Ann Rodgers. But, for the most part, Rodgers used sleight of hand semantics, (as opposed to outright lying) in her deceiving of the common American man & woman via the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
We now adjourn to the original article: