An
thony Cipolle may no longer wear a collar or call himself a priest.
Maine Catholic officials are now reportedly finished with their LEGAL obligations to a very troubled priest.
That’s because Fr. Anthony Cipolle has evidently been formally – and finally – defrocked by the Vatican bureaucracy. He is no longer a priest in the Diocese of Portland – or anywhere else.
The Catholic Church hierarchy will no longer provide him with a salary, benefits and a priestly title or position.
Maine Catholic officials are NOT finished, however, with their civic and moral obligations to the rest of us, particularly citizens and Catholics in Maine, Massachusetts and Tennessee* (where Cipolle is believed to have lived or worked since he was first suspended in 2018).
Cipolle supposedly can no longer wear the Roman collar. He can no longer answer to the title “Father.” But that doesn’t mean that everything’s finished and tied up with a nice, neat bow. Plenty more needs to be done here.
(We say ‘supposedly’ stripped of his collar because many times, predator priests who are ousted still pretend to be priests, largely because of the trust and deference that comes from the title. And rarely do Catholic officials publicly denounce defrocked clerics who pretend to still be clerics. The Diocese of Portland hasn’t announced that Cipolle has been kicked out of the priesthood.)
We at Horowitz Law hope that Maine Bishop James Ruggieri announces this defrocking soon – and far and wide – for at least two reasons.
First, those who have been around or hurt by Cipolle deserve to know his status and and know that those who are most responsible for and know most about his wrongdoing now – FINALLY – are admitting this (as evidenced by their kicking Cipolle out of the priesthood).
They have, through their suffering, earned the right to at least some measure of relief or validation – however small – that usually comes from realizing that a once powerful man can’t use his clerical stature to gain access to, win the trust of and hurt others.
Second, those who are around Cipolle now and in the future deserve to know what a troubled guy he is.
As we’ve mentioned in this blog before, Bishop Deeley ordained Cipolle in 2017, despite a troubling past that included
–multiple career changes,
–his fathering a son,
–a troubled marriage, and
–serious and violent criminal charges, including attempted murder, attempted insurance fraud, and drug possession.
Even as a seminarian preparing for priesthood, documents show the Portland Diocese officials raised questions about Cipolle’s lack of boundaries and inability to complete certain educational requirements because of his background. The Diocese even tried to get a hospital to bend its safety rules to make an exception to let Cipolle work there despite his arrest record for violent crimes.
Despite all of this, in 2017, Deeley turned “Mr. Cipolle” into “Fr. Cipolle.” (So much for the allegedly more ‘rigorous’ screening of seminarians that US bishops tout over and over – without ever providing proof that this is happening!)
After just over a year on the job, Cipolle was removed as church officials’ investigated his role in the murder of Renee Clark, a parishioner with whom Cipolle lived on his days off, in 2018.
Yes, that’s no misprint: his role in a woman’s murder, about a year after he began wearing the collar and acting as a spiritual guide to others.
The judge presiding over the case against Clark’s shooter would later say that Cipolle inflamed the situation that ultimate led to Clark’s brutal killing, adding that Cipolle failed in his moral obligations to diffuse the situation.
In late 2018, less than two years after he became a priest, the Portland Diocese reviewed the Renee Clark matter and determined that Anthony Cipolle abused his position as a clergy member, violated the diocesan ‘code of ethics,’ and tried to deceive investigators during the murder investigation. He was suspended indefinitely, and never returned to ministry.
However, by that point Cipolle had moved on to another vulnerable woman. Mere weeks after the July 2018 murder, Cipolle began grooming, and eventually sexually exploiting, another woman at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Bangor. That woman would later become Horowitz Law’s client. She received an out of court settlement from the Diocese for her abuse by Cipolle. Carolyn Bloom, the woman who received complaints of sexual abuse for the Diocese of Portland was disciplined by the State in 2023 for ethics violations after allegations that she misled Horowitz Law’s client about her role in the case.
Despite his problematic history, last year Cipolle was found working as a chaplain at a Tennessee hospital (specifically, Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville).
We at Horowitz Law first dug into the case against Cipolle four years ago. We asked:
“How could a Catholic official recently hire a guy who
–had “numerous encounters with law enforcement in three states” (starting more than 30 years ago).
–was charged with attempted first-degree murder (but the outcome of that case is not clear.)
–was also charged with drug possession, assault, theft and insurance fraud.
–claims he was an undercover drug agent which he said led to a substance use disorder.
–says he sought drug treatment but says he can’t remember the name of the facility where he went.
–names a woman as his drug counselor who didn’t get her counseling license until years later.
In an earlier blog on this site, we wrote that even after Bishop Deeley suspended Cipolle, “troubling questions remain.”
Here, we wrote, are the three principal questions:
First, why ordain a man with all these legal troubles in his past?
Second, what other kinds of men is Bishop Deeley hiring?
Third, are other Catholic officials making similarly reckless decisions about hiring?
Even now, seven years after Cipolle became a priest and has finally been defrocked, those troubling questions remain.
Last we knew, Cipolle was living in the Nashville area and working at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as a chaplain. After Horowitz Law’s very brave client publicly exposed Cipolle’s sexual exploitation of her, reporters say his name changed to “Anthony Thomas” and eventually disappeared from the Vanderbilt website all together. However, there’s no indication he ever left his position at the hospital.
And click on the link below if you wonder “Well, what should Catholic officials have done about Cipolle?”
(*In Massachusetts, Cipolle lived in a Boston suburb called Arlington. In Tennessee, Cipolle worked in Nashville and in Maine, he lived and worked in Bangor.)
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Portland in Maine. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Maine, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Portland now have legal options, but filing deadlines may apply, so do not delay in reaching out to us. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Maine and nationwide. We can help. Contact us at 888-283-9922 or [email protected] to discuss your options today.