6 Howell Area Priests Named In Church Sex Abuse List

Six priests with ties to the Howell and Farmingdale area have been named among a list of priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse against them.

The priests — four who served at St. Veronica Roman Catholic Church, one who served at St. William the Abbot and one who was a deacon at St. Catherine of Siena — were among 30 priests in a list released by the Diocese of Trenton on Wednesday, as the Catholic Church in New Jersey revealed more than 180 names across the state, in an effort to help victims heal, church officials said.

The list shows 186 members of the clergy with ties to New Jersey who have faced allegations of child sex abuse. Nearly all of them were either sanctioned by the church, charged with a crime or both. Read More: List Of 186 NJ Priests Accused Of Child Sexual Abuse (UPDATED)

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, said the list includes all those from New Jersey who were credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors dating back to 1940.

"The revelations of clergy sexual abuse of minors throughout this past year have provoked feelings of shock, anger, shame, and deep sorrow throughout our Catholic community," he said. "In an effort to do what is right and just, we are publishing the names of diocesan clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors."

The priests from St. Veronica were Richard R. Milewski, Liam A. Minogue, Robert J. Parenti and H. Brendan Williams, according to reports by the Asbury Park Press and Bishop Accountability, a website that tracks sex abuse allegations in the Catholic Church.

Milewski, 72, was accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing a boy in the 1980s while he was assigned to St. Veronica, the Asbury Park Press reported. The lawsuit claimed he abused an unnamed man between 1984 and 1985, when the man was a student and altar boy at St. Veronica. Milewski, who was ordained in 1983, also served as the pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Freehold. He has been removed from the ministry, the Trenton diocese said.

Williams, 78, was ordained in 1965 a pastor of St. Veronica and was Milewski’s supervisor, the Asbury Park Press reported. He has There is no other immediate information available about Williams, or why he has since been removed from the ministry.

Minogue, who was ordained in 1968, served at St. Veronica and several other parishes, including St. Rose of Lima in Freehold, the Asbury Park Press reported. He was named a reverend monsignor by the pope in 2004. There was no information immediately available on accusations against him. He died in 2007.

Parenti, 80, was ordained in 1972 and removed from the ministry in December 1998, the Asbury Park Press reported. There were allegations of ''sexual misconduct'' with a minor 25 years earlier, the report said. There was no timeframe on when he served at St. Veronica; he also served at St. Denis Church in Manasquan.

Leo A. Kelty was ordained in 1960, was monsignor of the parish of St. William the Abbot in Howell and was removed in 2002 for credible allegations of sexual misconduct or abuse toward children, according to a Times of Trenton article cited by Bishop Accountability. Kelty was removed after he was accused of sexually touching a teenage girl on at least two occasions while he was assigned to St. Robert Bellarmine Church in Freehold Township more than 20 years ago, the Asbury Park Press reported. The case was referred to the Monmouth County prosecutor's office but was not prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired, according to an NJ.com article cited by Bishop Accountability. He died in May 2018, according to his obituary, which makes no mention of his career in the clergy.

Joseph Prioli, 50, who lived in Howell, was a deacon at St. Catherine of Siena in Farmingdale, according to the church. He also was a teacher at Christian Brothers Academy and was arrested in 2017 on charges he sexually assaulted a relative for years beginning in 2007, the Asbury Park Press reported. Prioli pled guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison, the report said. He had been ordained in 2005 and has been removed from the ministry. He is in prison.

Note: This article has been updated to correct the number of priests in the first and second sentences to reflect the number of names listed in the article.

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