Wicked Local staff photo by Andy Metzger
Four of the 15 priests who have faced accusations of sexual abuse worked for a time at Saint Catherine of Genoa Parish, on Spring Hill, according to the Boston Archdiocese.
Somerville —
Of the 157 priests accused of sexual abuse that the Boston Archdiocese publicized last week, 15 spent at least some time in Somerville parishes. Saint Benedict Parish in East Somerville and Saint Catherine of Genoa on Spring Hill had more accused priests than any other Somerville parish. The list of names provided by the archdiocese are of priests who have been accused, not proven guilty. The following is a summary of accused priests who spent time in Somerville. A full list of accused priests in the local archdiocese is available at www.bostoncatholic.org/Offices-And-Services.
Frederick L. Barr, born in 1950, was assistant at Saint Clement Parish from May 1976 to June 1981, before moving on to other positions, including pastor, in Quincy, Cambridge and Watertown.
Accusations: According to our sister paper the Watertown Tab, Barr was placed on administrative leave in 2009 over allegations that he “sexually abused a child.” Based on the story and the timeline provided by the church, the alleged abuse occurred while he was parochial vicar at Saint Luke’s in Belmont.
Status: Case in progress, on administrative leave.
William L. Butler, born in 1934, served as an assistant at Saint Benedict Parish from February 1961 to February 1962, before moving on to posts in Malden and Revere, where he was most recently a pastor.
Accusations: According to the Pulitzer-winning Boston Globe Spotlight Team, Butler was accused in 2002 of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 1966, when he was stationed at Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish, in Jamaica Plain, as an assistant. The Globe article portrayed Butler as forthcoming, willing to take a lie-detector test and to look for photos of the accuser at Butler’s Canadian home, where the assault allegedly happened.
Status: Case in progress, on administrative leave.
William J. Cummings, born in 1941, was associate pastor at Saint Catherine of Genoa Parish from December 1979 to June 1983, and died in 1994 after reportedly telling his congregation at Saint John the Evangelist, in Cambridge, that he had HIV.
Accusations: According to the Boston Globe, a 2002 lawsuit accused Cummings of raping a then –15-year-old boy during a youth group trip from Our Lady of Help of Christians in Newton to New York City, in December 1982.
Status: Died before completion of investigation.
Thomas M. Curran, born in 1945, was a technical assistant at Saint Catherine of Genoa Parish from July 1974 to June 1979 and was associate pastor at Saint Catherine’s from July 1979 to September 1979 before moving on to become a chaplain at Metropolitan State Hospital and the Concord prison.
Accusations: In 2002, Curran had to step down from his parish in Hudson because of accusations that he had raped an inmate who himself was serving time for raping a boy, according to a Boston Globe story. Curran was outspoken about his innocence and was acquitted in 2007.
Status: Case in progress, on administrative leave.
John J. Dewire, born in 1921, was assistant at Saint Benedict Parish from December 1948 to October 1949, and served at 11 other parishes after that, including the East Middlesex Juvenile Court as a chaplain, before retiring in 1991. He died in 1994.
Accusations: Dewire was one of 40 priests named in a 2003 lawsuit filed by 70 alleged victims of sexual abuse, according to a Boston Globe story. The lawyer for the plaintiffs, Mitchell Garabedian, announced earlier this year that he had won a settlement in the case of Dewire and 116 other accused priests.
Status: Died before completion of investigation.
Leo V. Dwyer, born 1904, served as an assistant at Saint Clement Parish mid-career from July to November 1958 before ending his career at a church in Hull in 1978. He died in 1989.
Accusations: In 1993, an accuser claimed Dwyer had repeatedly sexually abused him at Saint Mary of Assumption, in Hull, in the late 1960s, according to a Boston Globe story.
Status: Died before completion of investigation.
Frederick L. Guthrie, born 1936, served as assistant atSaint Benedict Parish, from March 1968 to May 1968, later taking other positions throughout the state and in Washington D.C. before going on health leave in 2001.
Accusations: According to news reports, in 2004 Guthrie pleaded guilty to attempting to solicit a minor over the Internet in the early 2000s.
Status: Guthrie was laicized, or cast out of the clergy, in 2010.
Anthony J. Laurano, born 1924, was assistant at Saint Catherine of Genoa Parish from February 1956 to February 1957, then took five other posts before becoming pastor of Saint Mary in Salem. He was the pastor of Saint Mary in Plymouth for eight years before retiring in 1995. He died in 2007.
Accusations: In 2005, Laurano was indicted on two counts of child rape and he faced additional charges in 2006, according to an archdiocese press release.
Status: Laurano was laicized in 2007 just before dying.
James T. McKeon, born in 1901, was assistant at Patronage of Saint Joseph, mid-career right after a health leave. He ended his career as pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Jamaica Plain from 1960 to 1965, when he died.
Accusations: In 2002, a Boston Herald story quoted a 61-year-old Somerville woman accusing McKeon of abusing her when McKeon was an assistant at Saint Anthony Parish in Allston, right after his stint in Somerville.
Status: Died before completion of investigation.
John E. McLaughlin, born 1936, ended his career as pastor of Saint Benedict Parish, serving there from July 1985 to May 2004, when he was placed on administrative leave.
Accusations: McLaughlin was accused of rubbing the crotch of a man who sought counseling in June 2002, according to Somerville Journal archives. That alleged incident happened after the Globe’s investigation into abuse in the church. The congregation rallied behind McLaughlin after he left in 2004.
Status: Case in progress, on administrative leave.
Paul J. Moriarty, born 1922, was assistant at Saint Benedict Parish from July 1951 to March 1953, before becoming a chaplain at Cambridge Hospital and other posts at other institutions. He never became a pastor and died in 1982.
Accusations: Moriarty received one anonymous accusation in 1992, in his personnel file, according to a Boston Globe article.
Status: Died before completion of investigation.
Steven W. Poitras, born in 1966, was parochial vicar at Saint Ann Parish from January 1996 to June 2001, following a nine-month health leave. He was placed on administrative leave from Saint Michael Parish, in Hudson, in November 2006.
Accusations: Poitras was placed on leave following accusations that he had sexually abused a child in 1994, when he was a parochial vicar at Saint Michael Parish in North Andover, shortly before his stop in Somerville.
Status: Case in progress, on administrative leave.
Patrick J. Tague, born in 1937, was an assistant at Saint Benedict Parish from September 1965 to October 1965 in the midst of a six year career in the clergy. He took a leave of absence in 1969.
Accusations: After leaving the cloth, Tague became a staffer at Hyde Park House, where he allegedly told boys at the facility that they would receive shorter sentences if they performed sex acts on him, according to a Boston Globe article. Tague was also convicted of stealing from the group-home, according to the article.
Status: Tague was dismissed in 2006.
Joseph P. Veneto, born 1918, was assistant at Saint Ann Parish from September 1963 to January 1970, and went from there to become pastor at churches in Malden and Revere. He died in 1998.
Accusations: Veneto was one of the 116 priests whom plaintiff’s lawyer Mitchell Garabedian identified earlier this year as having settled charges of sexual abuse.
Status: Died before completion of investigation.
Robert A. Ward, born in 1946, was parochial vicar at Saint Catherine of Genoa Parish from June 1996 to June 1999, and then ended his career in the priesthood in 2002.
Accusations: According to the Globe’s Spotlight Team, church higher-ups knew as early as 1995 that Ward abused cocaine. In 1999, he admitted to “extensive” downloading of child pornography, according to the Globe article. A man also accused Ward of molesting him in the late 1970s when he was an associate pastor at Our Lady of Presentation Parish in Brighton.
Status: Ward was laicized in 2004.
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Crisis in the Church / Additional Local Charges
2 More Priests Suspended after Abuse Allegations
Boston Globe
August 28, 2002
By Matt Carroll and Sacha Pfeiffer
The Archdiocese of Boston suspended two priests yesterday, including the longtime pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Revere, after new allegations that each had sexually abused a minor more than 30 years ago.
The Rev. William L. Butler, 67, of Revere, and the Rev. Paul J. Bolduc, 67, who was on health leave but living at St. Anne Parish in Readville, were placed on paid administrative leave.
Reached last night at his home on Cape Cod,Butler strenuously denied the allegation, saying, “I have never heard such a total prevarication of the truth.”
Butlersaid that the archdiocese had notified him Monday afternoon that an accusation had been made against him, and that he met yesterday with officials at the chancery, where he learned details of the allegation.
According to Butler, the complaint involves an allegation involving a purported incident in the summer of 1966, when he was assigned to St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Hull.Butler said he had been accused of taking a 13-year-old male parishioner to his family’s home on Prince Edward Island in Canada, where he was alleged to have molested the boy.
Butler said he knows his accuser and his family, although he said he has not been in touch with them for several years. And he said he never took the boy to the Canada house.
He also said it would have been impossible for him to have traveled there that summer because his parish duties had prevented him from taking vacation for the period.
In addition, Butler said: “This kid is saying I brought him up to our farm with cows and chickens – but we don’t have a farm. Where he got this Prince Edward Island thing, I have no idea.”
Butler said he sympathizes with the archdiocese as it struggles to handle the sex abuse crisis, but also said he is disappointed with how the church has dealt with accused priests.
“I think we’ve been dropped like hot potatoes,” said Butler, who was ordained in 1961. “After almost 42 years of priesthood it just amazes me that you can be tossed aside like a piece of refuse.”
He said he plans to hire a lawyer and an investigator to fight the allegation.
“A lot of prayer is not going to solve the problem,”Butleradded. “I’m not against prayer, don’t get me wrong. But please – when somebody puts a hot poker in your eye, you better be ready. It’s a sad way to end your career as a priest.”
Butlerhad been pastor at St. Mary’s in Reveresince 1986. Before that, he was at Sacred Heart in Medford.
Bolduc has been on sick leave since 1999. He also served at St. Thomas Aquinas in Jamaica Plain in 1994 and 1995, and prior to that he served at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital since at least 1983. He could not be reached for comment.
The priests were the 21st and 22d to be have been placed on leave by the archdiocese since the sex scandal broke in January.
The news shocked parishioners at St. Mary’s in Revere.
“I have nothing but praise for Father Butler,” said Torey De Francesco, a parishioner for more than 30 years, who said he was stunned by news of the allegation. “I’m just overwhelmed by the news. He’s very well liked in the parish.”
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East Boston Times-Free Press
Obituaries 08-10-2011
Margaret M. “Peggy” (Lindsey ) Butler of Winthrop died on August 2. She was in her 103rd year.
She was a graduate of Fitton Catholic School, East Boston, Mt. St Mary’s Academy School, New Hampshire and the University of Rhode Island. She was a former bookkeeper/ Hostess/ Coat Room Attendant/ Bartender and Wait staff at the Frolics Night Club on Revere Beach, a member of Winthrop Catholic Women’s Club and former treasurer and a Eucharistic Minister at St John the Evangelist Church. She summered on the family estate on Prince Edward Island.
Born at Ft Andrews, Peddocks Island in Boston Harbor, she was the beloved wife of the late Edward I. Butler with whom she shared 48 years of marriage; loving mother of Rev. William L. Butler, former pastor of St Mary of the Assumption Church, Revere…
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An Accused priest speaks out
Boston Globe and Mail
01 September 2002
By Sacha Pfeiffer, Globe Staff
n several lengthy interviews last week, the Rev. William L. Butler had much to say about the allegation of sexual abuse from 1966 that he now faces. But the voluble and outspoken pastor also shared his views, some of them controversial, about other aspects of the crisis that is buffeting the church.
Some examples:
On why some priests became involved with teenage boys:
”I’m not a psychologist or psychiatrist, and there’s a lot people [that] don’t understand. But you’re talking about a young priest getting involved with an adolescent male going through his own development stages of sexual awareness, and sometimes the adolescents have infatuations with the male role model, whether it’s a teacher or coach or priest or minister. And if a priest is a young priest – especially in our young generation when we lived monastic lives – our own emotions, our own stages of intimacy, were not developed.
”… I don’t think the priests always forced the kids to do anything. But probably because of the kids’ lack of maturity and lack of a certain age, and because adolescents are sexually developing so they’re interested in any attention – especially if they have undefined gender issues in their own lives – the attention of a male adult would be something they’d look for.
”… I’m not condoning sexuality with underage adults, but adolescents are not sexually neutered. In my experience, adolescents are very sexually involved and interested. Unfortunately, some priests got involved. These are adolescents groping with their own sexual identity who oftentimes got tied up with priests groping with their own sexual identity.”
On his belief that homosexuality plays a role in the crisis:
”I think there is an underlying gay issue and many of these priests were reaching out themselves. We were in a seminary that was monastically ordered. You lived in isolation, with no communication with the outside world, no television, no newspapers. All of a sudden you’re cast out into a world where you’re an adult with a great responsibility as a leader and you’re still searching for your own understanding of sexuality and intimacy issues. That’s where I think the issue is. And sex, unfortunately, is part of that equation. And I really believe a lot of those guys got caught up in that and now we’re treating them as pariahs. They did wrong – absolutely. But there was no malice.”
On victims:
”I’m not trying to condone what happened, but I think some of these people were already vulnerable. This is not a cop-out, but I do believe some of these people were predisposed, because of their own natural weakness, to get involved in unhealthy relationships that caused them a lot of pain later on. I mean, I’m sure that they’ve suffered. But this is one of those underlying subtle issues that will gradually be explored.”
On the mood of priests:
”There’s a morale problem. Priests feel very down about this. I think there’s a fear that the phone will ring, that somebody will make an accusation. That’s a fear among a lot of people … and I think there’s a motivation out in the community from people who think they can make a buck on this.’
Note the name of a Father William L. Butler on the list of accused who served in parishes in Somerville (Archdiocese of Boston, MA). Note the alleged abuse transpired “at Butler’s Canadian home.”
I was curious as to the Canadian connection. I still am.
I have discovered and have attached articles which show that the “Canadian home” referenced is in PEI (Prince Edward Island). According to Butler’s mother’s obituary “She summered on the family estate on Prince Edward Island.”
Where in PEI is this “estate”? Does anyone have any info?
I also attached an article recounting Butler’s views on the sex abuse crisis. A disturbing read!
Sylvia. this along with the news about the Priest hiding out in Kerela, and all the others in hiding, leads me to think there is someone who masterminds the hideouts for these perverts all over the world.
In Canada we still have a Bishop and 4 Priests (that I know of) hiding out. Really a nice bunch of dishonorable peolpe who wanted to be respected, but are now despised for their cowardice.
Brave they are not- cowards and weak they must be.