3 Priests With Holmdel/Hazlet Ties On 'Credibly Accused' List

HOLMDEL/HAZLET, NJ — The journalism site ProPublica, a Patch partner, recently released the most comprehensive list to date of Catholic clergy "credibly accused" of sexual abuse. The list includes three priests — all of whom have been credibly accused of abuse — that have ties to Catholic churches in Holmdel, Hazlet, Keansburg and Middletown, as well as St. John Vianney, a powerhouse Catholic high school located in Holmdel.

The searchable database — which includes nearly 200 priests accused of abuse, from the dioceses of Metuchen, Newark, Trenton, Camden and Paterson — comes on the heels of various reports identifying hundreds of "predator" priests across the state.

Here are the priests on the ProPublic list with Holmdel/Hazlet ties:

Gregory D. Vaughan, removed from ministry, worked under the Diocese of Trenton. Born in 1946, ordained in 1965. As recently as 2013, Vaughan was the pastor at St. Catherine's in Holmdel, but has since been removed from the ministry. On March 17, 2019, he was accused of sexually abusing a minor in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when Vaughan was a parochial vicar in St. Ann Parish in Keansburg.

Vaughan has denied the allegation. But, as a result of finding the allegation credible, Bishop David M. O'Connell removed Vaughan from ministry, effective immediately in April of 2019. The allegation was also reported to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome.

Assignment history:

• St. Ann, Keansburg
• St. Charles Borromeo, Cinnaminson
• St. Mary, Middletown
• Diocesan Vicar for Catholic Education, Chancery, Lawrenceville
• St. Raphael, Hamilton
• Chancellor of the Diocese of Trenton, Chancery, Lawrenceville
• Moderator, Diocesan Curia, Chancery, Lawrenceville
• Vicar General of the Diocese of Trenton, Chancery, Lawrenceville
• Director, Office of Vocations, Chancery, Lawrenceville
• St. Catharine, Holmdel

Douglas U. Hermansen, Removed from ministry, worked under the Diocese of Trenton. Born in 1934, ordained in 1979. While he served at St. Pius X in Forked River, Hermansen was credibly accused of sexually abusing one victim, according to the Trenton Diocese. Assignment history:

• St. Paul, Princeton
• Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville (Chaplain)
• St. Raphael, Hamilton
• St. Rose of Lima, Freehold
• St. John Vianney High School, Holmdel (Chaplain)
• St. Pius X, Forked River
• Jersey Shore Medical Center, Neptune (Chaplain)

Leo A. Kelty: Deceased, worked under the Diocese of Trenton. Born in 1934, ordained in 1960. Kelty was removed from ministry in 2002 after he was accused of sexually touching a teenage girl decades earlier as pastor of St. Robert Bellarmine Church in Freehold Township, according to the Asbury Park Press. His case was referred to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office. Assignment history:

• Camp Columbus, Bamber Lake (Chaplain)
• St. Mary, Perth Amboy
• Ascension, Bradley Beach
• St. Ann, Keansburg
• St. Dorothea, Eatontown
• St. James, Jamesburg
• Corpus Christi, South River
• St. Catharine, Holmdel
• St. William the Abbot, Howell

Along with the list, ProPublica outlined the challenges of identifying offenders long after such widespread abuse became known. The database is a collection of 178 lists released by U.S. dioceses and religious orders as of Jan. 20. There are still more than 40 dioceses and religious orders that have not released information, including five out of seven Florida dioceses.

New Jersey enacted a law in 2019 that extends the statute of limitations in civil actions on sexual abuse claims, creating a two-year window to file cases for which the statute of limitations had previously expired. A number of law firms have announced they were filing lawsuits. Attorneys from Rebenack, Aronow & Mascolo, LLP and Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC (PCVA) said they planned to file 38 lawsuits on behalf of dozens of abuse survivors.

The ProPublica project was prompted by a massive grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania that was described by Associated Press as the "biggest and most exhaustive ever" into priest sex abuse by an individual state. The investigation revealed many priests admitted to their actions and were allowed to continue in the ministry for years despite having confessed to molesting children.

Related: Full List Released Of NJ Catholic Clergy Accused Of Sex Assault