PENSACOLA (FL)
Pensacola News Journal
Brett Norman
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
A Catholic priest who resigned last month after admitting molesting a boy 34 years ago is now accused of molesting a second boy during the same period.
Monsignor Richard Bowles, 74, the former pastor of St. Michael Catholic Church in downtown Pensacola, was a priest in the Diocese of St. Augustine at the time of both incidents, Monsignor Michael Mooney, spokesman for the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, said Wednesday.
“We want to get the information out there in case there’s anyone else,” said Mooney, who had initially characterized the first incident as isolated. “With the second one coming out, we just don’t know.”
Bowles admitted last month to sexual misconduct with a boy in 1969, eight years after his ordination. Until last weekend, when the admission was made public, parishioners had assumed Bowles’ abrupt resignation Aug. 17 was because of health problems.
Mooney said a second incident of sexual misconduct with a boy was reported this week. That incident allegedly occurred during an out-of-state trip in 1971.
