Priest Assignment Records and Case Details Released

The Law Offices of Mitchell Garabedian has obtained settlements or arbitration awards for many victims and survivors who suffered sexual abuse by clergy or church personnel. The list can be found at at www.garabedianlaw.com/results-list. 

The firm added:

Detailed information on the assignment records and claim history of these abusers, together with sources, can be accessed by reading below as well as in the pdfs lnked above.

Please check back regularly as additional information is planned for release.

Father Leon Dicks, O.F.M.Conv. - Diocese of Trenton - Conventual Franciscans, Province of the Immaculate Conception

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
Approx. 1957 Ordained by the Conventual Franciscans
1958 St. Francis Seminary, New York City, NY
1959 – 1967 St. Francis Hospital (chaplain), Trenton, NJ (Diocese of Trenton)
1968 – 1970 Catholic Information Center, Binghamton, NY
1971 – 1972 St. Peter’s Church, Riverside, NJ (Diocese of Trenton)
1973 – 1987 St. Francis Hospital (chaplain), Trenton, NJ (Diocese of Trenton); In approx. 1975, the hospital was renamed “St. Francis Medical Center”
1988 Assumption B.V.M. Church, Syracuse, NY
1988 Provincial House of the Immaculate Conception Province, Syracuse, NY
1989 – 1991 St. Bartholomew’s Church, Camden, NJ
1992 – 1993 San Damiano Friary, Holyoke, MA
1994 St. Peter’s Church, Point Pleasant Beach, NJ (Diocese of Trenton)
1995 Franciscan Mission House, Rensselaer, NY
1996 – 2002 Not indexed
2003 – 2005 St. Cecilia Church, Fonda, NY
2005 The National Shrine of Blessed Kateri Yekakwitha and Friary, Fonda, NY
2006 – 2009 Not indexed
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 Dicks died in 2009.
  • Father Leon Dicks, O.F.M.Conv. was accused of sexually abusing a female minor child on approximately thirty occasions from approximately 1958 to 1961 when the female child was approximately eleven to fourteen years old. At the time of the sexual abuse, Father Dicks was assigned as a chaplain at St. Francis Hospital in Trenton, New Jersey, and the female child received treatment on multiple occasions at the hospital. The sexual abuse took place in the girl’s hospital room.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Dicks included the following: Father Dicks kissed the girl on the lips, inserting his tongue into her mouth. Father Dicks fondled the girl’s vagina and penetrated her vagina with his fingers. Father Dicks exposed his penis to the girl and forced the girl to touch his penis with her hand and kiss his penis.
  • The claim settled in May 2020 in the low six figures.

Father Lawrence W. Donovan – Diocese of Trenton

Assignment Record:

YearsAssignment
Approx. 1937 Ordained in the Diocese of Trenton
1938 – 1940 St. Mary’s Church, Bordertown, NJ
1941 – 1942 St. Mary’s Church, Perth, NJ
1943 – 1944 St. John the Evangelist Church, Dunellen, NJ
1945 – 1946 St. Joseph’s Church, Trenton, NJ
1947 St. Michael’s Children’s Home, Hopewell, NJ
1948 – 1949 St. James the Less Church, Jamesburg, NJ
1950 – 1987 St. Joseph’s Church, Toms River, NJ
1981 – 1982 “Serra Club”
1983 “Monmouth County Chapter”
1984 – 1987 “Serra Club”
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 Donovan died in 1987.
  • Father Lawrence W. Donovan was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on at least two occasions in approximately 1946 when the boy was approximately 13 years old. At the time of the sexual abuse, Father Donovan was assigned to St. Joseph’s Church in Trenton, New Jersey, and the boy served as an altar boy at St. Joseph’s Church.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Donovan included the following: Father Donovan exposed his own penis to the boy, fondled the boy’s penis and testicles over the boy’s clothing, and sodomized the boy.
  • The claimant passed away prior to the resolution of his claim.
  • The case settled on behalf of the claimant’s estate in 2020 in the low six figures. .

Father Robert Dunphy – Diocese of Camden

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
Approx. 1965 Ordained in the Diocese of Camden
1966 St. John’s Church, Collingswood, NJ
1967 – 1968 St. Mary’s Church, Gloucester, NJ
1969 – 1973 Queen of Heaven Church, Cherry Hill, NJ
1974 – 1979 St. Agnes Church, Blackwood, NJ
1980 – 1985 St. Margaret’s Church, Woodbury Heights, NJ
1986 – 1989 St. Charles Borromeo Church, Washington Township, NJ
1990 – 1994 St. Rose of Lima Church, Newfield, NJ
1995 – 1996 Not indexed
1997 – 2010 1997 – 2010
2011 – 2016 “Retired” (listed as living in Portsmouth, RI)
Sources:
  • 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 Dunphy died in 2016.
  • Father Robert Dunphy was accused of sexually abusing a male as a minor child on two occasions from approximately 1971 when the male child was approximately twelve years old. At the time of the sexual abuse, Father Dunphy was assigned to Queen of Heaven Church in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and the boy was an altar boy at the church and a student at Queen of Heaven School, the elementary school associated with Queen of Heaven Church. The sexual abuse took place in Brigantine, New Jersey, in the home of a teacher at Queen of Heaven School.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Dunphy included the following: on two occasions, Father Dunphy sodomized the boy.
  • The claim settled in December 2019 in the low six figures.

Deacon William Emerson – Archdiocese of Boston

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.

Sources:
Summary:
  • 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:
  1. Father Robert D. Fay - Archdiocese of Boston
  2. Monsignor J. Francis Feenan – Diocese of Paterson
  3. Father Romano J. Ferraro – Diocese of Brooklyn, Diocese of Methuen
  4. Father Merle Fisher - Marist Fathers
  5. Father Joseph L. Fitzharris – Archdiocese of Chicago
  6. Father Conran Free, C.P. - Congregation of the Passion (“Passionists”) - Diocese of Scranton
  7. Father Lawrence Gadek – Archdiocese of Newark
  8. Father Richard M. Galdon – Archdiocese of Newark
  9. Father Brian Gallagher, S.S.C.
  10. Father Vincent J. Gallo – Diocese of Brooklyn
  11. Father Michael Garry – Diocese of Trenton
  12. Father James M. Gibbons - Archdiocese of Boston
  13. Father Augustine M. Giella – Diocese of Harrisburg
  14. Father Denis Ginty – Archdiocese of Los Angeles
  15. Father J. Gerard Griffin– Diocese of Trenton, Diocese of Springfield
  16. Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez
  17. Monsignor James J. Haddad - Archdiocese of Boston
  18. Father Michael H. Hansen – Archdiocese of Newark
  19. Father Patrick J. Healy – Diocese of Erie
  20. Monsignor Herman Heide – Archdiocese of New York
  21. Father Douglas U. Hermansen – Diocese of Trenton
  22. Father Charles Herr – Archdiocese of Newark
  23. Father Donald Hickey – Diocese of Trenton
  24. Father Daniel M. Holihan – Archdiocese of Chicago
  25. Father Ernest Karl Huller – Diocese of Springfield
  26. Monsignor Thomas M. Jordan – Diocese of Scranton
  27. Father Charles Kane – Archdiocese of Boston
  28. Father Thomas C. Kelley – Diocese of Erie
  29. Monsignor Joseph P. Kelly – Diocese of Scranton
  30. Father Robert J. Klem, C.S.B. – Congregation of St. Basil, a.k.a. the Basilians, and the Diocese of Rochester
  31. Father Eugene Kwapisz, O.F.M. Conv. - Order of Minors Friar Conventual, St. Anthony of Padua Province - Diocese of Trenton
  32. Serio “Charlie” La Penna - Archdiocese of Boston
  33. Father Victor C. LaVoie - Archdiocese of Boston
  34. Father Roger R. Leblanc - Archdiocese of Boston
  35. Father Theodore F. Llanos – Archdiocese of Los Angeles
  36. Father Salvatore Luzzi – Diocese of Erie
  37. Father Gerald F. Lyons – Diocese of Trenton
  38. Father Patrick Francis Magee – Diocese of Trenton
  39. Monsignor Daniel Martin – Diocese of Erie
  40. Father George Maslar, O.M.F.Conv. (Conventual Franciscans)