The official Diocese of Burlington Diocesan’ credibly accused’ abusers list has two categories. One is titled “Priests that were assigned in Vermont and abused children here.” The other is “Priests who have been found credibly accused in another jurisdiction and have direct or indirect connections to Vermont.”
If you’ve paid any attention at all to the decades-long Catholic abuse and cover-up crisis, you should know that in many cases across the US, church officials sent known or suspected predator priests to other dioceses, religious orders, or church institutions. So one would expect to see a number of Vermont priests in that second category, “credibly accused” somewhere else but with “connections” to Vermont. But surprisingly, according to Bishop John McDermott, there’s only one entry in this category. He’s Fr. Mark L. Quillen, a.k.a. Andrew Quillen.
Are they saying that over multiple decades, only one priest who is or was “connected” to Vermont was deemed a ‘credibly accused’ child molester in another state or jurisdiction? That defies common sense. And it seems especially implausible when you look at just how often Vermont abusive priests have come from or gone somewhere else:
Some Vermont predator priests worked in other states:
- Fr. Michael K. Madden was born in Connecticut, worked in New York, was sent to a church treatment center in Maryland, and died in Austria.
- Fr. Charles G. Many worked in Quebec and Connecticut, where he sexually abused a child, according to church officials.
- Fr. Dennis J. LaRoche was ordained in New York and worked in the Philippines, East Africa, and Texas.
- Fr. Edward O. Paquette was ordained in Massachusetts and also worked in two other dioceses, both of which list him as a ‘credibly accused’ abuser in Fall River, Massachusetts, and Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana.
- Fr. Donal D. Ward was born in New York, ordained in Rome, and worked in Indiana.
Some Vermont predator priests were from or were sent to other states:
- Fr. Leo J. Courcy Jr. was born in New York, put on leave in Vermont “for health reasons,” was sent to a church-run treatment center for troubled clergy in New Mexico, was then put back on the job in the Amarillo Texas Diocese, the Ottawa Archdiocese, and the New York City Archdiocese.
- Fr. John F. Eastman was born in Montreal, ordained in Burlington, worked in several Vermont parishes, was suspended and sent to a New Mexico church facility for ‘troubled priests, and put back to work in the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno, California.
- Fr. Donald A. Bean worked in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and died in Hanover, New Hampshire.
- Fr. James J. Campbell was born in Boston, ordained in Washington, D.C., worked in the St. Cloud Minnesota Diocese, was suspended from a Vermont parish, and ordered to return to a religious order in Minnesota.
- Fr. Edward C. Foster worked in Vermont, New York, and Washington, D.C., and died in Maryland.
Several Vermont predators apparently spent their entire careers in Vermont churches but started off or ended up elsewhere:
- Fr. William P. Gallagher died in Lebanon, N.H.
- Fr. George A. Paulin was born in Massachusetts.
- Fr. Richard E. Thompson was born and died in Massachusetts.
- Fr. Alfred Willis and Fr. James F. Foley were born in New York.
- Fr. Robert J. Baffa was born in Philadelphia and died in Norristown, Pennsylvania.
- Fr. George O. Murtagh was sent to a church treatment center in Connecticut and died in Florida.
- Some offending priests became priests elsewhere but worked only or largely in Vermont.
- Fr. Raymond C. Provost was ordained in Montreal.
- Fr. Emile W. Savary was born and ordained in Rhode Island.
- Fr. Joseph H. Dussault was born in Minnesota and ordained in Montreal.
- Fr. Robert E. Devoy was born and ordained in Quebec.
- Fr. Joseph Maxime Mooney was ordained and died in Quebec.
- Fr. John A. Guischard was born in Philadelphia and ordained in Rome.
- Fr. James J. McShane was born and ordained in Massachusetts.
- Fr. Brian E. Mead was born and ordained in New York.
- Fr. Walter D. Miller was born and ordained in and died in Massachusetts.
- Fr. Daniel F. Roberts was born in New Jersey and ordained in Connecticut.
The bottom line: It’s crystal clear that many priests who molested Vermont kids spent time elsewhere.
So how does Bishop McDermott explain this anomaly, that supposedly only ONE predator priest with “direct or indirect connections to Vermont” has been found “credibly accused” of abusing a child in another Catholic jurisdiction? And in the absence of a reasonable explanation, there’s only one reasonable inference: that the bishop is doing what nearly all of his colleagues are doing: STILL not ‘coming clean’ about all of the child molesting clerics who are or have been in his diocese.
The attorneys at Horowitz Law have a long history of representing survivors of child sex abuse. If you or someone you know was abused by a priest in the Diocese of Burlington in Vermont, please contact Horowitz Law today for a free consultation. We can help you understand your legal options and fight for the justice you deserve. The Burlington Diocese has filed for federal bankruptcy protection, and strict deadlines will soon be set by the bankruptcy court. Please contact our law firm at 888-283-9922 or e-mail sexual abuse lawyer Adam Horowitz at [email protected] for a free consultation to discuss your options today.