Father James A. Clark
Ordained: 1947
Removed: 1984
Died: 1989
Assigned as follows:
- 1948-1950: St. Louis Bertrand (Oakland, CA)
- 1951-1955: Nativity of Our Lord (Menlo Park, CA)
- 1956-1959: St. Leo's (San Jose, CA)
- 1960-1963: St. Michael's (Livermore, CA)
- 1964-1965: St. Paschal's (Oakland, CA)
- 1966-1984: Corpus Christi (Fremont, CA)
- 1985-1989: St. Anne (Walnut Creek, CA)
Summary of Abuse Allegations against Father James A Clark:
Fr. James A Clark was ordained for the Diocese of San Francisco in 1947. He has been accused of sexually abusing at least four children from approximately 1968 to 1980, while he worked at Corpus Christi in Fremont, California.
According to media reports, one victim was a 9-year-old altar boy, whose Irish Catholic family had a long history with the church. He said at first Clark was "grooming him" by offering him $2 a day to answer phones in the parish office. However, the priest began to abuse him both physically and emotionally, undressing, touching, and assaulting him. He didn't tell anyone, including his parents.
"You don't ever recover from this," he said. "You adjust. But you can't move on until you confront it."
Decades later, he confronted Clark's superiors in the Diocese of Oakland. The area bishop reportedly told him the priest did not have a history of abuse, despite the fact he was a convicted sex offender and denied transferring him from parish to parish.
In addition to being named in multiple civil lawsuits, in 1963, Clark was arrested and convicted of oral copulation of a 19-year-old man in Santa Cruz, California. According to media reports, he was given probation, and ordered to go to counseling, undergo psychiatric treatment, and that his bishop be notified of "his problem". In 1965, he was assigned to Corpus Christi in Niles, California, where he allegedly sexually, mentally, and emotionally abused "numerous" children.
According to media reports, in 1980, another of Clark's victims severed part of his hand after a mental breakdown. The man, who is spending the rest of his life institutionalized, said he thought it was the only way he would get to heaven.
In December 2003, two brothers filed suit alleging child sexual abuse by Clark from 1968 to 1972. A third plaintiff filed a separate suit. At least one claim was included as part of a $56.4 million payout to 56 childhood sexual abuse survivors in August 2005.
In 2019, his name appeared on the Diocese of Oaklands' list of clergy credibly accused of sex abuse of minors.
Clark was removed from ministry/retired in 1984 and died in 1989.
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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