Catholic school, police refuse to discuss priest investigation
A prominent Catholic school in north Fulton County and Sandy Springs police are not talking about a police investigation of an incident involving a priest and a juvenile.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked the police for an incident report filed Monday after hearing about the incident. The police provided a report that is blank except for listing an unnamed female student at Holy Spirit Preparatory School as the victim and Thomas Flynn as a suspect. Flynn had been listed previously on the school website as chaplain. It did not describe what the investigation is about or provide any other details, atypical for a police report.
Sandy Springs police Sgt. Forrest Bohannon said they did not have answers yet when asked what is being investigated, referring questions to the school.
“The detectives are still working on information gathering,” Bohannon said via email.
The school’s headmaster, Kyle Pietrantonio, declined comment via email Thursday, saying the school doesn’t comment on personnel matters. He did not respond to an email Friday.
Flynn is also listed as a priest in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. An spokeswoman there referred questions to the school.
Flynn is originally from Washington, D.C., and was ordained a priest in Rome in December 2011, according to a church biography. Telephone calls to Flynn were not returned.
Holy Spirit Preparatory School was founded in 1996. The annual tuition is as much as $23,000, according to the school’s website.
About the Author
Eric Stirgus joined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2001. He currently writes about higher education and has assisted in the newsroom’s COVID-19 vaccine coverage. Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Eric is active in the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists and the Education Writers Association and enjoys mentoring aspiring journalists.
