Full List Of CT Catholic Clergy Accused Of Sex Abuse Released

CONNECTICUT — The journalism site ProPublica, a Patch Partner, has compiled the most comprehensive list so far of Catholic clergy "credibly accused" of sexual abuse. The list includes many abusers from Connecticut.

The revelations have been percolating for a while, but until now no agency has tied it all up neatly.

A year ago, the Diocese of Norwich released a list of sexual abuse allegations dating back to the formation of the diocese in 1953. The diocese had paid out $7.7 million in settlements with victims in nine cases, according to Norwich Bishop Michael Cote.

In 2018, the Diocese of Bridgeport announced it had paid out $52.5 million in settlements related to allegations of sexual abuse by members of their clergy, also dating back more than a half-century. An independent review found former Bridgeport Diocese bishops turned a blind eye toward sexual abuse in their midst.

In Connecticut, the ProPublica database includes:

(Click on the name of the diocese to see the full database)

• Abusers from the Archdiocese of Hartford
  • Gregory Altermatt
  • Joseph Buckley
  • Stephen Bzdyra
  • Herbert Clarkin
  • Stephen Crowley
  • Robert Doyle
  • Ivan Ferguson
  • Stephen Foley
  • Thomas Glynn
  • Paul Gotta
  • John Graham
  • Philip Hussey
  • Edward Hyland
  • Joseph Lacy
  • Robert Ladamus
  • Felix Maguire
  • Terry Manspeaker
  • Richard McGann
  • Daniel McSheffery
  • Peter Mitchell
  • Edward Muha
  • Howard Nash
  • John T. O’Connor
  • Raymond Paul
  • Louis Paturzo
  • Arthur Perrault
  • William Przybylo
  • George Raffaeta
  • Edward Reardon
  • Adolph Renkiewicz
  • Joseph Rozint
  • Robert E. Shea
  • Kenneth Shiner
  • (Wamakulasuriya) Edward Tissera
  • Felix Werpechowski
  • Peter Zizka
• Priests from another diocese who served in the Diocese of Hartford
  • Roman Kramek
  • Lucien Meunier
  • Edward Franklin
  • Bruno Primavera
  • John B. Ramsay
  • Jose Rivera
• Credibly Accused Clergy, Religious Order, who served in the Diocese of Hartford
  • William Izquierdo, LC
  • Michael Miller, OFM Conv.
  • Robert Leo Pelkington, OP
  • John Pryor, OAR
  • John Rudy, OFM
  • John Szantyr

• Abusers from the Diocese of Norwich:
  • Robert W. Barnes
  • Bernard W. Bissonnette
  • Richard T. Buongirno
  • Salvatore L. Busca
  • Dennis G. Carey
  • Anthony R. Caron
  • Santino A. Casimano
  • Roger M. Comtois
  • James A. Curry
  • Edward F. Frigault
  • Denis Galipeau
  • Roman S. Gromala
  • Paul L. Hebert
  • Raymond J. Jean
  • John A. Kozon
  • Vincent F. Marino
  • R. Thomas McConaghy
  • Joseph P. Murphy
  • John C. Nash
  • J. Lawrence Ouimet
  • John B. Ramsay
  • Thomas W. Shea
• Priests from another diocese who served in the Diocese of Norwich:
  • Louis Paturzo
  • Bruno Primavera
• Credibly Accused Clergy, Religious Order who served in the Diocese of Norwich:
  • Thomas J. Doyle
  • Charles Many, SSE
  • Eugene Orteneau, SJ
  • Robert Leo Pelkington, OP
  • Patrick Sullivan, OCSO
  • Thomas Paschal, OSB
• Priests who served in the Diocese of Norwich who had allegations in other places but not in the Diocese of Norwich:
  • Joseph Buckley
  • William J. Cullen, SJ
  • John F. Dority, OFM
  • Ivan Ferguson
  • Joseph Gorecky
  • Michael Krol
  • Stephan Johnson, CSP
  • Felix Maguire
  • Edward P. McGrath, SDB
  • Frank J. McManus, SJ
  • Peter Mitchell
  • Joseph Owens, SJ
  • Paul Pinard, SSE
  • Edward Reardon
  • Robert E. Shea
  • George St. Jean, OMI
  • Felix Werpechowski

• Abusers from the Diocese of Bridgeport
  • Henry A. Albeke
  • Alfred Bietighofer
  • Lawrence Brett
  • Charlie Carr
  • John Castaldo
  • Vincent Paul Cleary
  • Walter Coleman
  • Stephen J. DeLuca
  • Joseph Michael DeShan
  • William Donovan
  • John Draper
  • Martin Federici
  • William Fletcher
  • James Gay
  • William A. Genuario
  • Stephen Gleeson
  • Joseph Gorecki
  • Richard Grady
  • Sherman Gray
  • Martin Hitchcock
  • Stanley Koziol
  • Bartholomew Laurello
  • Jaime Marin-Cordona
  • James McCormick
  • Albert McGoldrick
  • Francis D. McKenna
  • Joseph Moore
  • Robert Morrissey
  • William R. Nagle
  • Gavin O'Connor
  • Raymond Pcolka
  • Boleslaus ("Bill") Rarus
  • Gregory Smith
  • Paul Spodnick
  • John Stronkowski
  • Charlie Stubbs
  • Vincent Veich

• Credibly Accused Clergy, Religious Order, who served in the Diocese of Bridgeport
  • Kieran T. Ahearn
  • Stanley Bonzszek
  • Jean Marie DeGraf
  • James Gildea
• Credibly Accused Clergy, Visiting from Other Dioceses, who served in the Diocese of Bridgeport
  • Jose Daniel Alberran

As of Jan. 28, 2020, the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford had not released a list of credibly accused clergy members.

Along with the list, ProPublica outlines the challenges of identifying offenders long after such widespread abuse became known.

From ProPublica:

Over the last year and a half, the majority of U.S. dioceses, as well as nearly two dozen religious orders, have released lists of abusers currently or formerly in their ranks.

The revelations were no coincidence: They were spurred by a 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report, which named hundreds of priests as part of a statewide clergy abuse investigation.

Nationwide, the names of more than 5,800 clergy members have been released so far, representing the most comprehensive step toward transparency yet by a Catholic Church dogged by its long history of denying and burying abuse by priests.

But even as bishops have dedicated these lists to abuse victims and depicted the disclosures as a public acknowledgment of victims' suffering, it has become clear that numerous alleged abusers have been omitted and that there is no standard for determining who each diocese considers credibly accused.

ProPublica has collected the 178 lists released by U.S. dioceses and religious orders as of Jan. 20 and created a searchable database that allows users to look up clergy members by name, diocese or parish. This represents the first comprehensive picture of the information released publicly by bishops around the country. Some names appear multiple times. In many cases, that accounts for priests who were accused in more than one location. In other instances, dioceses have acknowledged when priests who served in their jurisdiction have been reported for abuse elsewhere.

Kathleen McChesney, a former FBI official who helped establish a new set of child protection protocols within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in the early 2000s, has urged bishops and religious orders for nearly two decades to create a comprehensive list of accused clergy. She said our database will allow the public to better track dioceses’ disclosures, rather than seeing each list in isolation.

"People don’t know where to look," McChesney said. "The contribution of the one list will help a lot of people to perhaps identify someone that they believe abused them."

Still, much crucial information remains missing. Despite the recent surge of releases, 41 dioceses and dozens more religious orders have yet to publish lists, including five of seven dioceses in Florida, home to more than 2 million Catholics.