Father Kevin Duggan
Diocese of Metuchen
Ordained: 1987
Suspended: 2013
Sent to Treatment: 2012
Removed: 2013
Died: 2017
Assigned as Follows:
- St. Joseph’s Parish (North Plainfield, NJ)
- St. James Parish (Woodbridge, NJ)
- St. Thomas the Apostle Parish (Old Bridge, NJ)
- Corpus Christi Parish (South River, NJ)
- St. Mary Parish (South Amboy, NJ)
- St James the Less Parish (Jamesburg, NJ)
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations against Father Kevin Duggan:
Father Kevin Duggan was ordained a priest in 1987 and served in the Diocese of Metuchen. He served in multiple parishes throughout his career. According to media reports, allegations against were first brought to the attention of the Diocese of Metuchen by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office in April 2013. This happened a few months after Duggan had voluntarily checked into a Guest House in Rochester, Minnesota for priests who struggled with alcoholism. Guest House is a notorious treatment facility for priests who have also been accused of molesting children, particularly when alcohol has played a role in the acts of abuse.
According to the allegation, a caretaker of a developmentally disabled man claimed that Duggan sexually abused the victim while serving at St James Parish in Woodbridge, sometime during the 1990’s. Longtime members of the parish also complained of Duggan’s drunken rages, verbal abuse and slurring and stumbling at the altar. The alleged victim spoke with the Diocese’s internal review board, where they were to investigate the case against Father Duggan. The caretaker told the Newark Star-Ledger that Duggan fondled the man on at least two occasions on the church’s lower level, known as McCorristin Hall. The victim claimed that Duggan had instructed him to wait for him in the basement after Mass. After being hospitalized for emotional problems, the survivor finally told his nurse what Duggan did to him. The review board found the accuser to be credible and Duggan’s ministry privileges were revoked in 2013. The matters were then handed over to the Vatican for additional investigation and action due to the mental capacity of the victim.
Duggan died on July 6th, 2017. At the time of his death, he was still a priest, presumably without facilities to minister.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Metuchen in New Jersey. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in New Jersey, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Metuchen now have legal options, but filing deadlines will apply so do not delay in reaching out to us. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in New Jersey and nationwide. We can help.
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