Ex-priest accused of sexual abuse worked at Disney World
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A grand jury report into child sexual abuse in Roman Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania says church officials gave a former priest a positive reference to work at Disney World, even though they’d fielded at least one complaint about him sexually abusing a boy.
The ex-priest, Edward Ganster, went on to work at Disney World. He died in 2014.
The report cites a letter Allentown’s bishop wrote to Orlando’s bishop in the late 1980s while Ganster was on sick leave at a Catholic mental health hospital. He said Ganster’s problems were “partially sexual” and that he couldn’t reassign him.
The report says a monsignor separately told Ganster he was sure the diocese would give him a positive reference.
In 2002 and later, the diocese allegedly received complaints about Ganster abusing two more victims in 1977.
