Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Catholic Little Meadows, PA, USA · 2011

Philip Ferrara: Melkite Greek Catholic priest convicted after using a retreat house to assault a boy

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

priest, Melkite Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Newton, founder/director, Our Lady of Solitude retreat house, Little Meadows, Pennsylvania

Organization

Melkite Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Newton, Our Lady of Solitude retreat house / Society of the Annunciation of Our Lord

Archive classification

This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.

Ferrara, a Melkite priest, founded and ran a retreat house in rural Pennsylvania where he isolated a 14-year-old boy and, under the pretext of a religious retreat, directed the boy to give him oil massages during which the assaults occurred. His clerical status and control of the retreat property were what put the boy alone with him.

Pastoral or clerical authority
Spiritual healing or treatment

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2011-10-01 · no-contest plea and sentence

Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas, Pennsylvania. Ferrara pleaded no contest to indecent assault and corruption of minors. In October 2011 the court sentenced him to six months to two years in state prison plus a fine.

Documented coercion mechanisms

priestly authority exercised at a retreat house he founded and ran
isolation of the victim at the retreat property
religious framing (retreat setting) used to obtain physical contact under pretext of massage

Cited record

Sources

press criminal charge report Greek Reporter, 'Melkite Greek Catholic Priest Charged with Indecent Assault and Corruption' (Oct. 21, 2011).: Reports the charges, the retreat-house setting at Lake O'Meadows Road, the oil-massage pretext, and the priest's Melkite Greek Catholic affiliation.
legal case summary criminal disposition corroboration Horowitz Law, 'Fr. Philip Ferrara – Diocese of Scranton' (attorney case summary, citing Times-Tribune reporting).: Summarizes Ferrara's Melkite Eparchy of Newton membership, his founding of the Society of the Annunciation of Our Lord retreat with Diocese of Scranton permission, the March 2011 arrest, no-contest plea, and 6-month-to-2-year sentence.
accountability database corroboration BishopAccountability.org, 'Fr. Philip Ferrara' accused-clergy database entry.: Independent accountability-database corroboration of Ferrara's identity, Melkite affiliation, retreat house, charges and disposition, and his listing in the 2018 Pennsylvania 40th statewide grand jury report.

Source provenance

Source access and integrity log

This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.

Source and tier basis: https://greekreporter.com/2011/10/21/melkite-greek-catholic-priest-charged-with-indecent-assault-and-corruption/ Corpus classification: press; evidentiary role: criminal-charge-report. SHA-256 ea72eb873ac327dd699f714661ec99fd1ee9b1b59a1d9e6f3b2c7d2e49b5bbc0
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://www.adamhorowitzlaw.com/blog/fr-philip-ferrara-diocese-of-scranton/ Corpus classification: legal-case-summary; evidentiary role: criminal-disposition-corroboration. SHA-256 507fa4c0980c355f8bcebf69028dd18282826b1844fa416765930ee8778a9aef
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/ferrara-philip-1990/ Corpus classification: accountability-database; evidentiary role: corroboration. SHA-256 8971c8cd446c9ef24d5f46919feabc7e16dbb062a96269a6c138caa29c591b36
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger

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