Granite Falls , Minnesota ( CNN ) -- As a boy in Ireland , Francis Markey dreamed of becoming a priest and serving parishioners all over the world . His dream of ordination came true , but his relationship with parishioners has become the object of international scrutiny . Now 82 years old , Markey is sitting in an Indiana jail awaiting extradition to Ireland to face the charge that he raped a boy more than 40 years ago . His story is part of a growing crisis in the Irish Catholic Church , which has recently admitted its leaders hid , moved and even exported suspected pedophile priests abroad to cover up horrific crimes . Deeply Catholic Ireland has been badly shaken by a government-backed report that found the Archdiocese of Dublin and other church authorities covered up child abuse by priests from 1975 to 2004 . Child sexual abuse was widespread then , the report found . Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday that he has finished writing an official statement , or pastoral letter , on the child abuse scandal facing the Irish church and he is expected to release the letter on Saturday . The head of the Irish Catholic Church , Cardinal Sean Brady , said Wednesday that the church 's response to abuse had been `` hopelessly inadequate . '' As a priest , Markey was first suspended in 1964 and sent for psychiatric treatment in Dublin . Throughout the '60s and '70s he was suspended and sent for treatment three times . Eventually , he was sent to New Mexico , where the Catholic church ran a treatment facility for priests with various addictions and sexual problems . In 1982 , Markey resurfaced in the tiny Minnesota town of Granite Falls to fill in for a priest at the small parish of St. Andrew . It was there and then that a boy would come to the priest 's home , just across the street from church , and find himself in Markey 's arms . `` As I was leaving , he gave me a hug and as he did so he stuck his tongue down my throat , '' that person , now grown , told CNN . `` He had been drinking . ... I ca n't say if he was drunk but he was definitely drinking . '' The man , who requested anonymity , said the abuse never went further . But Markey 's arrest in Indiana , based on the accusation against him in Ireland , has refocused attention not only on the Irish church , but also on the secrets of a small-town Minnesota parish . `` To this day , I wonder how many people ... had encounters with him , '' said the man who says Markey kissed him as a child . Markey 's attorney did not return calls from CNN . The Rev . James Moran , the St. Andrew priest who Markey filled in for in the early '80s , said he knew nothing of the allegations against Markey . But the diocese overseeing St. Andrew told CNN that Markey was sent from the church to treatment because parents were concerned he had an `` unnatural attraction to minor males . '' He never returned to the parish . Now , decades later , some of Markey 's former Granite Falls parishioners may see their old priest again -- in the benches of a courtroom in Ireland , where he is expected to stand trial .
Francis Markey sought extradition on charge he raped a woman 40 years ago . Ex - parishioner in Minnesota says she hugged and kissed him . Markey was sent from Minnesota for questioning when he expressed concern .