Father Merle Fisher - Marist Fathers

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
1960 Ordained
1961 – 1962 Unknown / Not indexed
1963 St. Peter Chanel Seminary, San Rafael, CA (Archdiocese of San Francisco)
1964 – 1967 All Hallows Church, San Francisco, CA (Archdiocese of San Francisco)
1968 – 1973 Holy Cross Church, Kalaheo, HI (Diocese of Honolulu)
1974 All Hallows Church, San Francisco, CA
1975 – 1978 Star of the Sea Church, Honolulu, HI (Diocese of Honolulu)
1979 Notre Dame des Victoires Church, San Francisco, CA (Archdiocese of San Francisco)
1980 – 1990 St. Paul’s Church, Nampa, ID (Diocese of Boise)
1991 – 1996 St. Catherine Church, Kapaa, HI (Diocese of Honolulu)
1997 – 1999 Not indexed
2000 Notre Dame des Victoires Church, San Francisco, CA (Archdiocese of San Francisco)
2001 St. Louis King of France Church, St. Paul, MN (Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis)
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.)

Father Fisher died in 2001.

Summary:
  • Father Merle Fisher, S.M. was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on at least six occasions from approximately 1967 to 1970 when the boy was approximately 8 to 11 years old. During the period of sexual abuse, Father Fisher was assigned to Holy Cross Church in Kalaheo, Hawaii.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Fisher occurred in the rectory affiliated with Holy Cross Church and included the following: Father Fisher smacked and squeezed the boy’s buttocks, skin-on-skin, and Father Fisher fondled the boy’s penis and testicles, skin-on-skin.
  • The claim settled in 2020 in the low six figures.