Father Conran Free, C.P. - Congregation of the Passion (“Passionists”) - Diocese of Scranton

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
1945 Ordained
1946 St. Joseph’s Passionist Monastery, Baltimore, MD (Archdiocese of Baltimore and Washington)
1947 – 1948 St. Ann’s Passionist Monastery, Scranton, PA (Diocese of Scranton)
1949 – 1951 St. Paul’s Monastery, Pittsburgh, PA (Diocese of Pittsburgh)
1952 – 1956 “Army Chaplains” – Organized Reserve Corps, Active Duty
1957 – 1961 St. Gabriel’s Monastery, Brighton, MA (Archdiocese of Boston)
1962 St. Paul’s Monastery, Pittsburgh, PA (Diocese of Pittsburgh)
1963 – 1966 St. Michael’s Passionist Monastery, Union City, NJ (Archdiocese of Newark)
1967 – 1983 St. Ann’s Passionist Monastery, Scranton, PA (Diocese of Scranton)
1984 Our Mother of Sorrows Monastery, West Springfield, MA (Diocese of Springfield)
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 Free died in November 1983.
  • Father Conran Free, C.P., was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on at least ten occasions from approximately 1970 to 1971 when the male child was approximately 13 to 14 years old. At the time of the sexual abuse, Father Free was assigned to St. Ann’s Passionist Monastery in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Free included the following: Father Free exposed his penis to the boy and forced the boy to perform oral sex on Father Free. Father Free also rubbed his erect penis against the boy’s buttocks, skin-on-skin.
  • The claim settled in 2021 in the low five figures.