Father Thomas C. Kelley – Diocese of Erie

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
1967 Ordained in the Diocese of Erie
1968 – 1972 St. Peter Cathedral, Erie, PA
1972 – 1978 St. Mark’s Seminary, Erie, PA
1972 – 1979 Our Lady of Mercy Church, Harborcreek, PA
1979 – 1985 St. Mark’s Seminary, Erie, PA
1985 – 1989 North American College (Dean), Rome, Italy
1989 – 1990 St. Michael’s Church, Greenville, PA
1992 – 1994 Diocesan Review Board
1994 – 1995 “Leave of Absence”
1995 – 1996 Southdown Center, Aurora, Ontario, Canada
1994 – 1996 St. Agnes Church, Stockton, TX (Diocese of San Angelo)
1996 – 2001 “Incarnated into Diocese of San Angelo, TX”
Sources:
  • Report I of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, released by the Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General, dated July 27, 2018
  • 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 Kelley died in 2005.
  • Father Thomas C. Kelley was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on at least three occasions in approximately 1968 when the boy was approximately 12 years old. During relevant times, Father Kelley was assigned to St. Peter’s Cathedral in Erie, Pennsylvania, and the boy served as an altar boy at St. Peter’s Cathedral.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Kelley took place inside St. Peter’s Cathedral and included the following: Father Kelley fondled the boy’s penis, skin-on-skin, and forced the boy to fondle Father Kelley’s penis, skin-on-skin.
  • The claim settled in 2020 in the high five figures.