Brother Bernard Connolly
Diocese of Oakland/Franciscans
Ordained: Unknown
Died: 1999
Assigned as follows:
- 1945-1946: Old Mission (San Luis Rey, CA)
- 1946-1948: Old Mission (Santa Barbara, CA)
- 1948-1949: Old Mission (San Miguel, CA)
- 1949-1950: St. Joseph’s (Los Angeles, CA)
- 1951-1953: St. Francis Retreat (San Juan Bautista, CA)
- 1953-1958: Serra Retreat (Malibu, CA)
- 1958-1964: Ascension (Portland, OR)
- 1964-1968: St. Francis (Spokane, WA)
- 1968-1971: St. Anne’s (Spokane, WA)
- 1971-1978: St. Francis (Provo, UT)
- 1978-1980: St. Elizabeth’s (Oakland, CA)
- 1980-1986: St. Anthony’s (Santa Barbara, CA)
- 1986-1988: (Toledo/Winlock, WA)
- 1988-1993: San Xavier del Bac (Tucson, AZ)
- 1993-1998: St. Francis Retreat (San Juan Bautista, CA)
- 1988: Old Mission (Santa Barbara, CA)
- 1989-1992: Unknown
- 1993: St. Francis Retreat (San Juan Bautista, CA)
- 1994-1998: Unknown
Summary of Abuse Allegations against Brother Bernard Connolly:
Br. Bernard Connelly (Connolly) was a member of the Franciscan Order. According to media reports, in 1993, he was named in a lawsuit alleging he sexually abused a minor girl in the early 1970s when she was a student at Marycliff High School in Spokane, Washington. He was sent for treatment and transferred back to California in 1978. In 2003, he was named in another lawsuit alleging child sexual abuse from 1985 to 1987, while he worked at St. Anthony’s Seminary in Santa Barbara, California.
In 2012, Connelly’s personnel file was released to the public. His name was included in the Diocese of Spokane’s list of admitted, proven, or credibly accused perpetrators of sexual abuse and on the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ list of priests accused of child sexual abuse.
In 2019, his name appeared on the Diocese of Oaklands’ list of clergy credibly accused of sex abuse of minors and on the Santa Barbara Province Franciscans list. It noted incidents of abuse occurring in 1960-1961 and 1982-1984 reported in 1993, 2003, 2004, and in 2014.
Connolly died in 1999.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Oakland. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest or other Catholic clergy in California State, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Oakland 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 Oakland and nationwide. We can help.
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