UPDATE 7/23/12 @ 5:57 p.m.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- The Roman Catholic bishop of West Virginia says he is grateful that two men have come forward to defend him against allegations that he sexually abused one of them in the 1970s.

Bishop Michael Bransfield sent an email Monday to clergy, parishioners and employees of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in which he said he has never abused anyone. The letter also was posted on the diocese website.

It comes after allegations surfaced during a Philadelphia priest-abuse trial in which a witness testified that a priest who abused him told him that Bransfield was sexually involved with a young teen. The alleged victim and another man told The Philadelphia Inquirer in a story published Sunday that the allegations were false.

Bransfield remains under investigation for another claim, which he denies.

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UPDATE 7/14/12 @ 10 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Authorities have re-opened a 2007 fondling complaint against a priest who taught at a suburban Philadelphia high school and is now the Roman Catholic bishop of West Virginia.

The development comes after trial testimony in a Philadelphia priest-abuse case. A trial witness testified that a priest who abused him told him that Bishop Michael Bransfield was sexually involved with a young teen. The witness said he was raped by the priest at Bransfield's beach house.

Bransfield has said he wasn't home at the time. He denies ever abusing anyone.

The 2007 complaint stems from Bransfield's days at Lansdale Catholic High School. The Philadelphia Archdiocese says it did not find the complaint credible, and passed it on to Montgomery County authorities. The archdiocese says the complaint has now been reopened.

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UPDATE 4/20/12 @ 3:50 p.m.
WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) -- A West Virginia judge says Monsignor Kevin Quirk must testify as a material witness in a clergy sexual abuse trial under way in Philadelphia.

Quirk's attorney, William Kolibash, said Friday that Hancock County Circuit Judge Ronald Wilson has ruled that Quirk is a material witness in the case against the Rev. James Brennan.

Kolibash says his client must appear to testify between April 29 and May 1.

The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office couldn't subpoena Quirk because he lives outside Pennsylvania. It needed a West Virginia judge to issue the subpoena.

Kolibash says the ruling came late Thursday. Quirk had fought the petition to appear.

Quirk was one of three canonical judges at a church trial for Brennan. Brennan's now in criminal court for an alleged 1996 assault that he denies.

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UPDATE 4/19/12 @ 12 p.m.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Bishop Michael Bransfield has released a statement in response to sexual abuse allegations that came out during a trial in Philadelphia.

A man testified Wednesday that a priest raped him at a home owned by Bishop Michael Bransfield and that his accused abuser told him the bishop also sexually abused a boy. The testimony came at the trial of the Rev. James Brennan.

Thursday, Bishop Bransfield released the following statement in response to the allegations:
"I have been deeply saddened by the priest child abuse scandal that has been connected to a handful of my former colleagues and friends from St. Charles Seminary. Over the years, I have felt devastation for both the victims and the church as I learned about the terrible actions they took with innocent victims.

"To now be unfairly included in that group and to hear the horrific allegations that are being made of me is unbelievable and shocking. As a native of Roxboro, I consider Philadelphia my home. I have openly been an advocate for the eradication of the abusive behavior of priests in every diocese, and have demonstrated this in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, where I now live and serve.

"I have never sexually abused anyone.

"I understand that I am a public figure and therefore subject to public criticism. The nature of these statements and the manner in which they were released however go way beyond any sense of fairness and propriety. This case has gone on for seven years or more and simple facts like whether I own, or owned, a farm in the Scranton area were easily determinable. Contrary to the statements, I do not own, and never owned a farm in the Scranton area, upstate New York, or anywhere else for that matter.

"The statement that a former seminarian of mine, Stanley Gana, abused a minor at a home which I owned on the shore and at which I permitted numerous friends and priests to use is misleading. What did not get released was additional information available to the Prosecutor that I was not aware of the incident and was not present at the house at the time. Gana has confirmed those facts in prior reports.

"I was in Rome attending meetings at the Vatican when this false story about me was publicly released by the media without my knowledge or input. To say I was shocked and saddened would be an understatement.

"I ask you to pray for me and the parishioners of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston as well as the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. At the same time, please join me in prayer for all those who have been affected by sexual abuse."

The trial is currently underway, and has been going on for several weeks.

Keep clicking on WSAZ.com for the latest information.

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UPDATE 4/18/12 @ 10:50 p.m.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Roman Catholics in West Virginia are reacting with disbelief and shock after a witness at a clergy-abuse trial in Philadelphia testified the leader of West Virginia's Catholics committed sexual abuse.

A man testified Wednesday that a priest raped him at a home owned by Bishop Michael Bransfield and that his accused abuser told him the bishop also sexually abused a boy. The testimony came at the trial of the Rev. James Brennan.

Monsignor Edward Sadie, rector of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Charleston, says he finds the allegations against Bransfield "impossible to believe."

Margery Webb of Charleston was shocked by the news as she arrived at a Morgantown church for Mass but said she hadn't heard anything about it.

The Diocese of Wheeling-Central declined comment.

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ORIGINAL STORY
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A man has testified during a clergy sex-abuse trial that he was raped at a home owned by the current West Virginia bishop and that he was told the bishop also sexually abused a boy.

The 48-year-old witness made the statements Wednesday about Michael Bransfield, bishop of the Wheeling-Charleston diocese, during the Philadelphia trial.

He says he saw Bransfield bring several boys to a farm owned by now-defrocked priest Stanley Gana. The witness says Gana told him Bransfield was having sex with one of them.

The man says Gana raped him for years, including at Bransfield's beach house.

Another witness has testified that Bransfield had a lewd conversation with him.

Bransfield's diocese called the trial "a circus" and says prosecutors are trying "to smear individuals not on trial."