Kentucky basketball team’s chaplain from Pitino era is accused of sexual abuse
A Catholic priest who was known as the unofficial chaplain of Rick Pitino’s basketball teams has been suspended after allegations that he sexually abused a minor.
Father Joseph Edward Bradley was “temporarily suspended” by the Diocese of Owensboro after the diocese received a report that he had sexually abused a minor “in the 1980s while he was principal at Owensboro Catholic High School,” the diocese said in a statement Friday.
Bradley, 75, retired from public ministry in 2011 but has been the volunteer chaplain at Owensboro Catholic High School since then, the diocese said.
Bradley was a fixture on the University of Kentucky bench during the Pitino era. He traveled with the team, counseled players and offered prayer before the games.
Later, Bradley went on to serve as an unofficial chaplain to Pitino’s University of Louisville teams, too.
The diocese said it “immediately reported” the allegation of abuse to the commonwealth attorney’s office and its Diocesan Review Board after receiving the allegation on Tuesday.
The commonwealth attorney told Owensboro television station WFIE that his office had reviewed the allegation and sent it to the Owensboro Police Department to be investigated.
The Owensboro diocese said in its statement that an internal investigation is also underway.
The diocese said Bradley is “temporarily” suspended “until the investigation is complete.”
“Our policies require that any priest accused of inappropriate conduct with a minor be suspended to assure the safety of children and youth,” Owensboro Bishop William F. Medley said in the statement. “Our commitment is to take seriously any allegation brought to us while at the same time affording Fr. Bradley a presumption of innocence until more information is available.”
Bradley, a native of Grayson County, was ordained a priest in the Owensboro diocese in 1975. He joined the high school’s staff the following year and served as the school’s principal from 1980 to 1985, the diocese said. He also led five parishes in Owensboro’s diocese and spent four years as vocations director.
Bradley became a close friend of Pitino after they met in 1992 at Pitino’s 40th birthday party, and besides serving as UK’s unofficial team chaplain, he became executive director of an Owensboro shelter for women and children that was named for Pitino’s son who died in infancy.
Bradley also performed the marriage ceremonies of several former Wildcat basketball players and officiated at the funeral of Cawood Ledford.
This story was originally published March 1, 2019 at 8:31 PM.
