A Roman Catholic priest from northeastern Pennsylvania is facing drug possession charges after police say he was caught buying cocaine in Philadelphia. Philadelphia police said Friday that 50-year-old James B. Shimsky, a priest in the Diocese of Scranton, was arrested last month.

Narcotics officers said they saw a man in a Jeep engage in a drug transaction the morning of Jan. 30 on a North Philadelphia street. Police said they stopped the vehicle and found a small amount of cocaine inside.

Diocesan spokesman William Genello said Shimsky is pastor of St. John Vianney Parish in Scott Township, Lackawanna County, and has been on a leave of absence since his arrest.

A phone listing for Shimsky could not be found and he couldn't be reached for comment.

The priest may have been just investigating the drug trade in order to save the addicts.

why would a priest do that?

Look at it on the bright side. If he was spending time buying cocaine he wasn't molesting little boys.

I now, I know that was bad.

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Hurry up Spring!

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One Big Assed Mistake America
November 2, 2010 Take Back America

I was wearing my McCain hat the other day and a person saw it and yelled LOSER. So I said back to him nah our country is the looser.

thr priest wanted it for his own nose daisy, yea we hope he was leaving the little boys alone. or mabyeturning them on to coke what a sad world we live in today.

UPDATE..............

Pa. priest facing drug charge dies

Roman Catholic officials say a northeastern Pennsylvania priest who was facing drug charges has died after developing a medical problem in rehab.

Officials from the Diocese of Scranton say 50-year-old James Shimsky died Thursday at a Rochester, Minn. hospital. Shimsky had been residing at a nearby rehab facility following his Jan. 30 arrest in North Philadelphia.

Philadelphia police say Shimsky was charged with drug possession after officers saw him buying cocaine.

Shimsky had been on leave from his position as pastor at St. John Vianney Parish in Scott Township, Lackawanna County.

Diocese spokesman William Genello said he didn't have details of Shimsky's death.

It’s a shame at what we are reading about these priests lately and It’s a shame what's going on with the local diocese. I live in the Wilkes Barre area. we have Churches getting combined , Priests getting shuffled around and Churches closing. Our local parish might combine and close down. My Wife and I are not happy about it .

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http://dempskimasonry.com

welcome Dempski Masonry, glad to have you here.

You are right about the churches and their combining parishes. It happened down here in Delco. The Church claims it is from low membership and if that is truely the case I can see where that needs to happen. Businesses do it all the time too. They shut down locations and consolidate all the time.

Contrary to anything else, organized religion is nothing more than a big business. There is money to be made.