Four Former Summit Priests Appear On 'Credibly Accused' List

SUMMIT, NJ — The journalism site ProPublica, a Patch partner, recently released the most comprehensive list so far of Catholic clergy "credibly accused" of sexual abuse. The list includes four accused abusers who at some point worked in Summit.

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

Here are the priests on the list with Summit ties:

Arturo Crespo

Status: Permanently removed from ministry
Birth Year: 1961
Ordination year: 1994
Reported assignment history:

• St. Teresa of Avila, Summit
• St. Bridget (Resurrection), Jersey City

John Capparelli

Status: Permanently removed from ministry/laicized; Deceased
Birth Year: 1948
Ordination year: 1980
Reported assignment history:

• Our Lady of Fatima, North Bergen
• Oratory Prep, Summit
• Holy Trinity, Westfield
• St. Theresa, Kenilworth
• Temporary Chaplain - Valley Hospital, Ridgewood

Joseph DiPeri

Status: Deceased
Birth Year: 1930
Ordination year: 1956
Reported assignment history:

• Our Lady of Mt. Virgin, Garfield
• St. Cecilia School, Englewood
• Oratory Prep, Summit
• St. Lucy, Newark
• St. Anthony of Padua, Newark
• Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Jersey City

James A. Carey

Status: Deceased
Birth Year: 1906
Ordination year: 1936
Reported assignment history:

• Christ the King, Jersey City
• US Army
• Seton Hall University, South Orange
• Chaplain, St. Elizabeth Hospital, Elizabeth
• Chaplain, St. Mary Hospital
• Immaculate Conception, Montclair
• Oratory Prep, Summit
• Holy Trinity, Westfield
• St. Michael Church, Jersey City

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 last month 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.