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.

Monsignor Joseph P. Kelly – Diocese of Scranton

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
1966 Ordained in the Diocese of Scranton
1967 Ascension Church, Williamsport, PA
1968 – 1969 St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Archbald, PA
1970 – 1975 College Seminary of St. Pius X, Dalton, PA
1974 – 1978 “Boy Scouts Director”
1974 – 1978 N.C.C.M. Director”
1975 – 1979 “Procuratores et Advocati”
1975 – 1978 “N.C.C.W. Director”
1975 – 1980 “Senate of Priests”
1975 – 1978 “Holy Name Society”
1976 – 1980 “St. Michael’s School for Boys,” Hoban Heights, PA
1977 – 1980 College Seminary of St. Pius X, Dalton, PA
1981 – 1985 St. Catherine of Siena Church, Moscow, PA
1984 – 1985 “Pro-Synodal Judges”
1986 Not indexed
1987 – 1988 St. Stanislaus Church, Scranton, PA
1988 – 1998 Holy Rosary Church, Scranton, PA
1991 – 1998 Camp St. Andrew, Tunkhannock, PA
1999 Not indexed
2000 – 2006 Camp St. Andrew, Tunkhannock, PA
2001 – 2005 Nativity of Our Lord Church, Scranton, PA
2006 Catholic Social Services
2006 St. Nicholas Church, Wilkes-Barre, PA
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:
  • Monsignor Kelly retired in 2006.
  • Monsignor Joseph P. Kelly was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on at least eight occasions in approximately 1978 when the boy was approximately 13 years old. The sexual abuse took place at St. Michael’s School for Boys in Hoban Heights, Pennsylvania, where the boy resided at the time. The sexual abuse by Monsignor Kelly including Monsignor Kelly performing oral sex on the boy and Monsignor Kelly masturbating himself in front of the boy.
  • The claim settled in 2020 in the mid-five figures.

Father Robert J. Klem, C.S.B. – Congregation of St. Basil, a.k.a. the Basilians, and the Diocese of Rochester

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
1957 Ordained
1958 – 1985 The Aquinas Institute, Rochester, NY (Diocese of Rochester)
1986 – 1988 Not indexed
1989 – 2013 Basilian Mission Center, Sugar Land, TX (Diocese of Galveston-Houston)
2014 – 2020 “Retired” – in residence at the Dillon House, Houston, TX (Diocese of GalvestonHouston)
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:
  • As of December 2020, Father Klem appears to still be listed as a retired priest living in Houston, Texas.
  • Father Robert J. Klem, C.S.B., was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on at least three occasions from approximately 1968 to 1970 when the boy was approximately 14 to 16 years old. At the time of the sexual abuse, Father Klem was assigned to the Aquinas Institute in Rochester, New York.
  • The sexual abuse took place in Father Klem’s residence at the Aquinas Institute, at a house in the area of Greece, New York, and during a trip to Quebec, Canada. The sexual abuse by Father Klem included the following: Father Klem fondled the boy’s penis and testicles, skin-on-skin, and made the boy fondle Father Klem’s penis and testicles, skin-on-skin; Father Klem performed oral sex on the boy; and Father Klem sodomized the boy.
  • The claim settled in 2020 in the low six figures.

Father Eugene Kwapisz, O.F.M. Conv. - Order of Minors Friar Conventual, St. Anthony of Padua Province - Diocese of Trenton

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
Approx. 1964 Ordained
1965 – 1967 Not indexed
1968 – 1978 Immaculate Heart of Mary Friary, Baltimore, MD (Archdiocese of Baltimore)
1979 Not indexed
1980 – 1983 St. Joseph’s Church, Mt. Carmel, PA (Diocese of Harrisburg)
1984 – 1985 St. Casimir Church, Riverside, NJ (Diocese of Trenton)
1986 – 1987 All Saints Church, Dunwoody, GA (Archdiocese of Atlanta)
1988 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 Kwapisz died in January 1988.
  • Father Eugene Kwapisz, O.F.M. Conv., was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on at least twenty occasions from approximately 1983 to 1985 when the boy was approximately 13 to 16 years old. At the time of the sexual abuse, Father Kwapisz was assigned to St. Casimir Church in Riverside, New Jersey, and the boy was an altar server at the church. The sexual abuse by Father Kwapisz occurred in multiple locations including the rectory affiliated with St. Casimir Church and hotel rooms during trips.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Kwapisz included the following: Father Kwapisz fondled the boy’s genitals and made the boy fondle Father Kwapisz’s genitals; Father Kwapisz performed oral sex on the boy and made the boy perform oral sex on Father Kwapisz; and Father Kwapisz sodomized the boy.
  • The claim settled in 2021 in the low six figures.

Serio “Charlie” La Penna - Archdiocese of Boston

Summary:
  • Serio “Charlie” La Penna was accused of sexually abusing a female minor child on at least two occasions in approximately 1990 when the girl was approximately seventeen years old. During the sexual abuse, Mr. La Penna was employed as a maintenance worker at St. Alphonsus Church in Beverly-Danvers, MA. The sexual abuse took place inside the sacristy of St. Alphonsus Church in Beverly-Danvers, MA
  • The sexual abuse by Mr. La Penna included the following: Mr. La Penna kissing the girl on the mouth, putting his tongue in her mouth; Mr. La Penna fondling the girl’s breasts, skin on skin; and Mr. La Penna performing oral sex on the girl.
  • Mr. La Penna died on October 24, 2010.
  • The claim settled in 2023 in the low five figures.
  1. Father Victor C. LaVoie - Archdiocese of Boston
  2. Father Roger R. Leblanc - Archdiocese of Boston
  3. Father Theodore F. Llanos – Archdiocese of Los Angeles
  4. Father Salvatore Luzzi – Diocese of Erie
  5. Father Gerald F. Lyons – Diocese of Trenton
  6. Father Patrick Francis Magee – Diocese of Trenton
  7. Monsignor Daniel Martin – Diocese of Erie
  8. Father George Maslar, O.M.F.Conv. (Conventual Franciscans)
  9. Father James McAuliffe – Diocese of Scranton
  10. Father Maurus McBarron, O.S.B. (Benedictines)
  11. Father Paul R. McCarthy – Archdiocese of Boston
  12. Father James McDonnell – Archdiocese of Philadelphia
  13. Father Joseph McHugh – Diocese of Trenton
  14. Father Joseph F. McGarvey – Diocese of Camden
  15. Father Francis G. McInerney - Archdiocese of Boston
  16. Father Thomas McKenna – Diocese of Pittsburgh
  17. Father William McKeone – Diocese of Trenton
  18. Father Paul J. McLaughlin – Archdiocese of Boston
  19. Father F. Dominic Menna – Archdiocese of Boston (at times indexed as “Fiori D. Menna”)
  20. Father John L. Murray – Diocese of Erie
  21. Monsignor John O’Donnell – Archdiocese of Los Angeles
  22. Father Francis E. O’Brien, Jr. – Archdiocese of Boston
  23. Father Denis O’Driscoll, S.M.A. – Society of African Missions
  24. Father Martin O’Hara – Archdiocese of Philadelphia
  25. Father George Parme – Diocese of Pittsburgh
  26. Father Gabriel Patil, c.r.s.p. – Diocese of Allentown / The Barnabites
  27. Father Robert Patterson – Archdiocese of Newark
  28. Father John P. Paul – Archdiocese of Philadelphia
  29. Father Michael Pecharich – Diocese of Orange
  30. Father John Piatkowski – Diocese of Erie
  31. Father William Presley – Diocese of Erie
  32. Father Joseph J. Pucci, O.M.I.
  33. Father Paul V. Rattigan – Archdiocese of Boston
  34. Father Michael J. Regan
  35. Brother Remigius, C.F.X., a/k/a Francis O’Lone – Xaverian Brothers
  36. Father Joseph P. Rice – Archdiocese of Newark
  37. Brother Donald Richard, F.M.S. - Archdiocese of Newark - Marist Brothers of the Schools
  38. Father Edward Richard – Diocese of Manchester
  39. Father Thomas A. Riley – Archdiocese of Boston
  40. Father Eugene Riordan, S.M.A. – Society of African Missions