Father Bernard L. Sullivan – Archdiocese of Boston

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
1961 Ordained
1961 – 1964 St. Clare’s Church, Braintree, MA
1965 – 1967 Blessed Sacrament Church, Walpole, MA
1968 – 1976 St. Catherine of Genoa Church, Somerville, MA
1977 – 1978 Chaplain, Catholic Memorial High School, Boston, MA
1979 – 1980 St. Paul’s Church, Wellesley, MA
1981 – 1985 St. Jerome’s Church, Weymouth, MA
1985 Our Lady of Grace Church, Chelsea, MA
Source:
  • The Official Catholic Directory, Kenedy & Sons

(The years listed above are the publication years of the Official Catholic Directory. According to the Directory, the assignments provided for a given year are effective as of January 1 of that year. This means that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year at a parish or school was likely at the same assignment for at least part of the previous year as well.)

Summary:
  • Father Sullivan died in 1985.
  • Father Bernard L. Sullivan was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on at least six occasions from approximately 1970 to 1973 when the boy was approximately 10 to 13 years old. At the time of the sexual abuse, Father Sullivan was assigned to St. Catherine of Genoa Church in Somerville, Massachusetts, and the boy was an altar boy at the church.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Sullivan included the following: Father Sullivan told the boy to take all of his clothes off; Father Sullivan made the boy sit on Father Sullivan’s lap; and Father Sullivan masturbated the boy.
  • The Archdiocese of Boston agreed to settle the claim in 2021.
Complaint: