Assignment Record:

Deacon Emerson was ordained as a Permanent Deacon in the Diocese of Omaha, Nebraska in 1973. He was granted faculties to serve as a deacon in the Archdiocese of Boston in 1982. Deacon Emerson served for several years as a deacon at St. William’s Church in Tewksbury before his faculties were removed by the Archdiocese of Boston in 2011.

• Archdiocese of Boston Office of the Permanent Diaconate, “Diaconia,” Volume XVIII, Number 3, October 1998
• Patch.com, March 15, 2011: “St. William Pastor: We’re Praying for Deacon Bill”

• Deacon Emerson died in 2018.
• Deacon William “Bill” Emerson was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on at least 100 occasions from approximately 1973 to 1978 when the boy was approximately 8 to 13 years old. The sexual abuse took place in the basement of St. William’s Church in Tewksbury, Massachusetts.
• The sexual abuse by Deacon Emerson included the following: Deacon Emerson fondled the boy’s penis and testicles, skin-on-skin; and Deacon Emerson forced the boy to perform oral sex on Deacon Emerson.
• The Archdiocese of Boston agreed to settle the claim in 2021.

• Complaint filed by the Law Offices of Mitchell Garabedian (view or download pdf)