Father Gerald Baker, a former pastor at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Hopkinsville, has been permanently suspended from public ministry.
A statement was released Thursday by the Diocese of Owensboro confirming Father Baker had been permanently suspended as the results of a 2016 investigation into accusations of sexual abuse by three minors. According to the statement, the Diocesan Review Board said they cannot comment on the results of law enforcement’s investigation, but they can say the Board found the accusations against Baker to be substantiated, and therefore Bishop William Medley recently suspended Baker permanently from public ministry.
As previously reported, Baker became the pastor at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in 1989 and played an instrumental role in starting St. Luke Free Clinic in 1993. He left Hopkinsville in 2003 to serve as pastor at St. Ann Catholic Church in Morganfield, located in Union County. He served at St. Ann until 2012 when he left to pastor St. Mary of the Woods in Whitesville and St. John the Baptist in Fordsville.
Baker was suspended by the Dioceses of Owensboro in May 2016 amid accusations of inappropriate conduct with minors. Kentucky State Police and the diocese launched an investigation into the allegations.
Baker has been an ordained priest since 1983.
