Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte Accountability

Allegation(s)

In March of 2017, a man reported to the Diocese of Charlotte that Baker had sexually abused him in his Lenoir parish from 1986 to 1989, when he was a teenager. The diocese alerted Caldwell County DSS, and Lenoir police investigated but did not file charges. At the time of the allegation in 2017, Baker was living in Arizona, where he had relocated in 1991 and worked briefly in the Diocese of Phoenix. Baker left ministry in 1994.

In 2019, after an investigation, the Charlotte diocese’s Lay Review Board deemed the allegation credible and recommended that Baker not be permitted to engage in any ministry. He remains permanently out of ministry.

Allegation(s)

In May of 1994, an adult male reported to the Diocese of Charlotte that Burton made advances and inappropriately touched him in 1982 at a youth ministry center in Flat Rock, when he was 17. Burton had been assigned by his supervising religious order, the Maryland Province of Jesuits, to work in the Charlotte diocese, and was appointed co-director of diocesan youth ministry in Flat Rock. At the time the allegation arose in 1994, Burton had not worked in the diocese for more than a decade. The diocese reported the allegation to his supervising religious order. The Jesuits sent Burton for treatment and then returned him to ministry in New Jersey, the order said in a 2007 statement. The Flat Rock allegation resurfaced in 2007 when the Jesuits conducted a review of their personnel files. The Jesuits said Burton acknowledged the incident and they removed him from ministry. He died in 2011.

Photo courtesy of The Press of Atlantic City

Allegation(s)

In March of 1995, a man reported to the Diocese of Charlotte that he had been abused by Corbesero when he was a teenager at Our Lady of Consolation Church in Charlotte. The alleged incident occurred sometime between 1973 and 1975.

A New Jersey priest who served in five states, Corbesero had been assigned by his supervising religious order to work in the Charlotte diocese during the time of the alleged abuse. His order reassigned him out of state in 1976 and he quit the order in 1981. He formally left the order and was released from the clerical state in 1983.

When the allegation was made in 1995, then-Charlotte Bishop William Curlin determined it was credible and alerted Corbesero’s order to verify he was no longer in ministry.

In October of 2007, the former priest pleaded guilty and served five years in prison for the 2006 sexual assault of a minor in New Jersey, according to published reports. Corbesero died in 2016.

Allegation(s)

In December of 1998, a teenager reported D’Silva had inappropriately touched and kissed her at St. Bernadette Catholic Mission in Linville. D’Silva denied the allegation and the Diocese of Charlotte could not substantiate the claim at the time. D’Silva died in 2005. As part of the diocese’s 2019 historical file review, the allegation was re-examined and found credible through an independent investigation.

Allegation(s)

In 1999, a woman reported to the Diocese of Charlotte that Farwell had abused her son in the early 1980s, but the then-adult son did not come forward to make a complaint. Farwell had taken leave from the Charlotte diocese in 1998, returned briefly to ministry in Charlotte in 2000, then moved to Florida that same year for a job at Food for the Poor, a charity which provides food and other services to the poor in Latin America and the Caribbean. With no formal complaint against Farwell, then-Charlotte Bishop William Curlin, now deceased, provided the charity a letter of good standing for Farwell.

In April of 2002, the victim did come forward and reported to the diocese that Farwell had abused him in 1983, when he was 12 or 13, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Salisbury. The diocese alerted Rowan County DSS, which alerted Salisbury police. The diocese immediately removed Farwell’s priestly faculties, and Farwell was subsequently fired from his job at Food for the Poor.

In June of 2002, a second allegation against Farwell was reported by the attorney for a man who said Farwell had sexually abused him in 1984, when he was 15, at St. Ann Catholic Church in Charlotte and Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Salisbury. The diocese informed Salisbury police and Mecklenburg County DSS, which alerted Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police. The diocese also referred the allegation to its Lay Review Board.

In August of 2002, Farwell was indicted in Rowan County on two felony counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor. In November of 2004, while denying wrongdoing, Farwell pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and was sentenced to probation.

In 2005, after the criminal case concluded, the Lay Review Board deemed the allegations against Farwell credible and recommended he remain out of ministry. A civil lawsuit filed on behalf of both victims in Mecklenburg County Superior Court was dismissed in 2014.

Farwell remains permanently out of ministry and resides in Florida.

Allegation(s)

In April of 2002, the Diocese of Charlotte received an allegation from a woman alleging abuse by Gavigan in 1973 at Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro, when she was a minor. Ordained for the Trappist Fathers religious order in Conyers, Georgia, Gavigan had been incardinated into the Charlotte diocese in 1972 and retired in 1992.

After the allegation was received in 2002, the diocese alerted its Lay Review Board and Guilford County DSS. Gavigan denied the allegation. In its investigation, the Lay Review Board recommended that Gavigan, living in a North Carolina nursing home by that time, be restricted from ministry to minors. He died in 2007.

Allegation(s)

In October of 2019, Holmes was publicly named on the Ohio-based Glenmary Home Missioners’ list of clergy credibly accused of abuse of a minor. The Diocese of Charlotte had no record of abuse allegations against Holmes but sought more information since the Glenmary society had twice assigned Holmes to work in western North Carolina in the mid-1960s and mid-1970s.

In November of 2019, the society told the diocese Holmes had been accused of abusing three minors in 1976 in Murphy, where he served at St. William Catholic Church. The society also said another credible allegation stemmed from Holmes’ subsequent assignment in Franklin, Kentucky.

Glenmary said it had received the North Carolina allegations in 1988, while Holmes was living at the society’s headquarters in Cincinnati, and that Holmes had admitted the abuse. According to the society, he was sent for treatment in 1988 and removed from ministry in 1991. Holmes died in 2013.

In October of 2019, the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, added Holmes to its list of clergy with credible allegations of abuse that occurred in the Richmond diocese.

Allegation(s)

In April of 2002, a man reported to the Diocese of Charlotte that he had been abused as a minor by Joyce from 1973 to 1976 at Sacred Heart Catholic Mission in Wadesboro. Joyce had been assigned by his supervising religious order to work in the Charlotte diocese. In 2002, the diocese reported the allegation to Union County DSS and Joyce’s order for investigation. The diocese has no information on what action the order may have taken. Joyce had already been removed from ministry in 1997 and was working in an Oblates-run college library in San Antonio, Texas, when the allegation was made.

In 2006, a second allegation of abuse in Massachusetts emerged in a lawsuit accusing Joyce of sexually abusing a minor from about 1977 to 1979 at a parish in Lowell, where he had been assigned by his order.

In 2019, as part of the diocese’s historical file review, the Wadesboro allegation was referred to the diocese’s Lay Review Board, which deemed the allegation credible.

Allegation(s)

In January of 2010, the Diocese of Charlotte contacted Stanly County authorities after learning of an allegation of sexual abuse against Kelleher posted on an online message board. The anonymous writer alleged he had been abused by Kelleher at Our Lady of the Annunciation Catholic Church in Albemarle in 1977, when he was 14 and Kelleher was pastor there. Kelleher had been retired since 1999, but still served occasionally at Holy Cross Catholic Church and Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School in Kernersville.

The Charlotte diocese investigated and in June of 2010 removed Kelleher’s priestly faculties. In July Albemarle police charged him with one felony count of taking indecent liberties with a child. Kelleher admitted the abuse in a police interview, according to Stanly County Superior Court documents. However, the judge declared ailing Kelleher not competent to stand trial and dismissed the case in July in 2014. Kelleher died a month later.

After Kelleher was charged, others came forward to allege Kelleher had also abused them as minors in the 1970s and 1980s, including additional victims in Charlotte and Hendersonville. Law enforcement in Charlotte and Henderson County investigated the claims but did not pursue charges. The diocese’s Lay Review Board found the allegations credible.

Allegation(s)

In 2013, the Diocese of Charlotte received allegations against Le of sexual abuse of multiple minors at St. Joseph Vietnamese Catholic Church in Charlotte. The diocese alerted its Lay Review Board and Mecklenburg County DSS, which referred the information to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police and the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s office. The subsequent investigation identified additional victims. Authorities did not prosecute, but the diocese’s Lay Review Board found the allegations credible. In August of 2013, the diocese removed Le’s priestly faculties and alerted his home diocese of Vinh Long, Vietnam, where he had retired in 2011 because of ill health.

Allegation(s)

In the mid-1990s, parents of a 14-year-old boy alleged that Lynch molested him from 1991 to 1995, when Lynch served at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Boone. Lynch admitted the abuse and was sent for psychiatric treatment. In 1997, after a counselor cleared Lynch for return to ministry, then-Charlotte Bishop William Curlin appointed Lynch to Our Lady of Consolation Catholic Church in Charlotte. About that same time, the brother of the initial victim also accused Lynch of abusing him during his time in Boone. Lynch was removed from ministry in January of 1998 and the Diocese of Charlotte settled two lawsuits with the family in Watauga County Superior Court. Lynch was released from the clerical state in 2009.

Allegation(s)

In 2008, a civil lawsuit was filed in Buncombe County Superior Court against the Diocese of Charlotte and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by a man alleging he was sexually assaulted at St. Lawrence Catholic Church (now Basilica) in Asheville in 1976 or 1977. The man said he was 15 or 16 at the time of the abuse and named as his assailants Pechulis, who was deceased, as well as a Philadelphia priest and a third unidentified man. Pechulis, a Pennsylvania native and friend of the Philadelphia priest, was pastor of St. Lawrence Catholic Church at the time of the alleged assault. Although Pechulis had died in 1983, civil authorities were notified in Philadelphia and Asheville. Both the Philadelphia and Charlotte review boards investigated the allegation. The Charlotte diocese’s Lay Review Board found the allegation credible in 2008. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2010.

Allegation(s)

In 2006, a man wrote a letter to the administrator of St. Michael Catholic Church in Gastonia alleging he had been sexually abused as a minor by Scales at the parish in 1977-1978. Scales had been assigned to the parish by the Benedictines of Belmont Abbey, his supervising religious order. In 1980, Scales relocated to a Benedictine priory in Richmond, Virginia. When the allegation was reported in 2006, the Richmond priory, Belmont Abbey and Gaston County DSS were notified, and DSS alerted the Gaston County District Attorney’s office. Scales denied the allegation. No charges were filed, but the Diocese of Charlotte’s Lay Review Board found the allegation credible and his order removed him from ministry in 2006. He died in 2008.

Allegation(s)

In April of 2008, the Diocese of Charlotte learned of abuse allegations against Yurgel when he was arrested in Passaic, New Jersey, after a man reported to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police that he had been repeatedly abused by Yurgel almost a decade earlier. Yurgel had been assigned by the New Jersey-based Capuchin Franciscans religious order to work at St. Matthew Church in Charlotte from 1997 to 1999. The abuse occurred when the victim was 14 and reportedly took place at several locations including St. Matthew and Our Lady of Consolation churches in Charlotte and St. Michael Church in Gastonia.

Yurgel was extradited to Charlotte following his arrest. In February of 2009, he pleaded guilty to felony second-degree sexual offense and served nearly eight years in prison. Yurgel was dismissed from the order and the clerical state in 2010. He was released from prison in August of 2016, ordered to register as a sex offender, and moved to New Jersey, according to published reports.

In 2010, a civil lawsuit against the Capuchin Franciscans and the Charlotte diocese was settled.

Allegation(s)

In 1983, the Diocese of Charlotte received an allegation against Corbin of sexual abuse in 1966 at Gibbons Hall for Boys in Asheville – when the Diocese of Raleigh oversaw the Catholic Church across the entire state. The Raleigh diocese had deemed Corbin unfit for a ministerial assignment in 1970 after alleged abuse at Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School, then located in Winston-Salem. Corbin moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, and remained out of ministry.

The Charlotte diocese inherited supervision of Corbin when it was established in 1972. Although the diocese never assigned Corbin to any ministry, he sometimes made unsanctioned arrangements to assist parishes in the Diocese of Springfield.

In 1986, after renewed contact with the Asheville abuse victim, the Charlotte diocese alerted the Springfield diocese that Corbin was living unassigned within the territory of their diocese and that abuse had been alleged.

In 1988, Asheville police charged Corbin in connection with the abuse. The Charlotte diocese formally removed Corbin’s faculties to function as a priest. In 1989, Corbin admitted the abuse and pleaded guilty in Buncombe County Superior Court to one felony count of taking indecent liberties with a minor. He served two months in prison followed by probation and treatment.

Additional credible allegations of abuse in the 1960s by Corbin in Brevard and Winston-Salem were reported in following years.

Other allegations of abuse also in the 1960s in Springfield and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, were reported in civil lawsuits in Massachusetts in 2004 and 2008.

Corbin died in 2008.

Allegation(s)

According to the Diocese of Raleigh, in 2004 it received a single allegation against Dolan of abusing a minor in 1964 at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Greensboro. Although the alleged abuse occurred before the Diocese of Charlotte was established, the diocese inherited Dolan in 1972 when Greensboro became part of the Charlotte diocese. Dolan retired from ministry in 1979 and died in 1981. In 2018, the Raleigh diocese publicly named Dolan on its list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor. The Charlotte diocese has no documentation of alleged abuse during the time Dolan was assigned here.

Allegation(s)

In 2019, as part of the Diocese of Charlotte’s file review, an independent investigator found credible an allegation from September of 1971 that Gallagher had inappropriately touched a teenaged girl at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Monroe. A “supply” priest assigned by the Oratorian religious order based in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Gallagher was filling in for one weekend during the pastor’s absence. The alleged abuse was reported immediately to another priest, who alerted the Diocese of Raleigh, which oversaw the Catholic Church across North Carolina at the time. The teenager’s family declined to press charges, according to diocesan files. Gallagher’s supervising religious order restricted his ministry in response, and he died in 1976.

Allegation(s)

In May of 2002, a woman reported to the Diocese of Charlotte that Hyland had sexually abused her as a minor from 1964 to 1966 at St. Pius X Catholic School in Greensboro. Hyland was deceased, but the diocese notified Guilford County DSS as well as its Lay Review Board, which deemed the claim credible. At the time the abuse is alleged to have occurred, the school was under the supervision of the Diocese of Raleigh, and in 2018 it publicly named Hyland on its list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors.

Allegation(s)

In March of 1995, the Diocese of Charlotte notified parishioners of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church that it had received allegations against Kuder of sexual abuse of minor boys dating from the 1950s. Kuder had been pastor of the parish and its school from 1949 until his death in 1960. The west Asheville-area parish was under the supervision of the Diocese of Raleigh at the time but became part of the Charlotte diocese when it was established in 1972.

Raleigh Bishop Joseph Gossman and Charlotte Bishop William Curlin, both now deceased, found the allegations credible and publicly apologized for Kuder’s crimes in a joint statement in 1995. The joint statement was the culmination of discussions with some of Kuder’s victims that originated in 1992, when the first victim came forward asking Church leaders to denounce Kuder publicly, take steps to identify and assist other victims, and commit to preventing any further abuse of children. After the bishops’ statement in 1995, numerous additional victims came forward to report having been abused by Kuder.

The Lay Review Board for the Charlotte diocese referred the case to the Raleigh diocese, which reported the allegations to law enforcement although no criminal charges could be filed. In 2018 the Raleigh diocese publicly named Kuder on its list of clergy credibly accused of child abuse.

Allegation(s)

In October of 2019, the Ohio-based Glenmary Home Missioners publicly named Smith on its list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors. The Diocese of Charlotte sought more information since Smith’s ministry with the Glenmary society included one assignment in western North Carolina in the 1960s. The Diocese of Raleigh oversaw the Catholic Church across the state at that time.

The society told the Charlotte diocese it had received two credible allegations of sexual abuse many years after Smith’s death in 1975. One allegation was received in 1993 of abuse in the 1960s at Buck Creek, a short-lived training facility and summer youth camp run by the society. The other was received in 2001 involving abuse in 1963 in Boone, when Smith was pastor of St. Elizabeth Catholic Church.

In December of 2014, the Charlotte diocese received a separate allegation against the deceased priest from a man who reported he had been sexually abused in the 1960s on Boy Scout camping trips in the Boone area. The diocese’s Lay Review Board alerted Watauga County DSS as well as the Glenmary society, which found the allegation credible.

Allegation(s)

In October of 2019, Behm was publicly named on the Ohio-based Glenmary Home Missioners’ list of credibly accused clergy. Alleged abuse of a minor by Behm occurred in the 1970s in Kentucky, the Glenmary society said. In the 1980s, the society assigned Behm to serve as the first campus minister at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, part of the Diocese of Charlotte. There are no allegations documented from his ministry there.

Allegation(s)

Berthold appears on the Archdiocese of Boston’s list of credibly accused clergy for sexual abuse of a minor in 1972 in Massachusetts. The allegation was made known to the Boston archdiocese in 1996, according to published reports, and Berthold was dismissed as dean of St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts. In 1997, he was recommended for a teaching job at Belmont Abbey College but when the Boston abuse allegation was made public a year later, he was fired from the college and his priestly faculties in the Diocese of Charlotte were removed. His case for dismissal from the clerical state has been referred to the Vatican. The Charlotte diocese has no allegations of sexual abuse documented here.

Allegation(s)

In December of 2018, Bonacci’s supervising religious order, the Jesuits’ Maryland Province, named Bonacci to its list of credibly accused clergy for allegations of abuse in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Maryland. He was later assigned to serve in the Diocese of Charlotte, and no abuse allegations were documented here.

Allegation(s)

In December of 2018, the Jesuits’ Maryland Province named Bourbon on its list of credibly accused clergy for an allegation of abuse around 1985 in Buckingham, Virginia. He served in the Diocese of Charlotte in the early 1980s with no documented abuse allegations.

Allegation(s)

In December of 2018, Bradley’s supervising religious order, the Jesuits’ Maryland Province, named Bradley on its list of accused clergy for credible allegations of sexual abuse in the late 1960s to early 1980s in Maryland and Washington, D.C. There are no credible abuse allegations documented during his time in the Diocese of Charlotte.

Allegation(s)

Castaño was arrested in March of 2002 after the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina, received an allegation against him of sexual abuse in 2000 in Rock Hill, South Carolina. A priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Ipiales, Colombia, Castaño was a visiting priest of the Oratory in Rock Hill. His order and the Charleston diocese immediately suspended him from ministry, and the Diocese of Charlotte simultaneously withdrew permission for Castaño to serve here. He had briefly volunteered at Room At The Inn in Charlotte (now called MiraVia) without documented incident. Castaño admitted the abuse in York County (S.C.) Circuit Court in 2003 and was sentenced to two years in prison before being deported to Colombia.

Allegation(s)

Clarke is named to the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas’, list of credibly accused clergy. According to published reports, the Corpus Christi diocese settled a lawsuit in 2011 related to allegations of abuse in the 1970s when Clarke served in a Corpus Christi parish. Ordained a Carmelite priest in Ireland, Clarke served at Immaculate Conception Church in Hendersonville, North Carolina, for about two years in the mid-1960s, when the Diocese of Raleigh oversaw the Catholic Church across the state. The Diocese of Charlotte is unaware of any allegations of abuse against Clarke other than those in Texas.

Photo courtesy of The Caller-Times

Allegation(s)

Cortez was convicted of abuse-related offenses in New York in 2009 and 2017. He has been dismissed from his order, the Vincentians, and from the clerical state. His only presence in the Diocese of Charlotte was an unauthorized stay in residence for four weeks at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Charlotte in early 2008, where no allegations were documented against him. Cortez remains incarcerated in New York and his earliest release date is 2023, according to state prison records.

Allegation(s)

In December of 2018, Cullen’s supervising religious order, the Jesuits’ Maryland Province, named him to its list of credibly accused clergy for allegations of abuse from the late 1960s to 1980s in Maryland, before he was assigned to serve in the Diocese of Charlotte. There are no documented abuse allegations during Cullen’s ministry here.

Allegation(s)

In October of 2018, Evrit was named on the Diocese of Youngstown’s list of clergy for credible allegations of sexual abuse from the early 1970s in Ohio. Evrit served in the Diocese of Charlotte in the late 1980s until his home diocese placed him on indefinite medical leave in 1989. No local allegations of abuse were documented here.

Allegation(s)

In February of 2019, the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, named George to its list of credibly accused clergy for an allegation of sexual abuse in the late 1970s at a Richmond parish. The Richmond diocese had received the allegation in 1987 and removed George from ministry. A Benedictine monk, George had relocated to a Richmond priory in 1975 from Belmont Abbey, where he had been assigned briefly to St. Michael Catholic Church in Gastonia. George left religious life in 1988 but returned to Belmont Abbey in 1991, with opinions of suitability from two psychological evaluations, and served without documented incident. He left Belmont Abbey in 1998 and was permanently dismissed from monastic life and dispensed from priestly ministry in 2004.

Allegation(s)

In 2004, Jablonowski pleaded no contest to charges of abusing a 17-year-old boy at a Wyoming parish in the 1980s, according to public records. He served prison time and was dismissed from the clerical state in 2006. In the 1970s, Jablonowski served on loan to the Ohio-based Glenmary Home Missioners, who assigned him to St. Francis of Assisi Church in Jefferson, North Carolina. There are no documented abuse allegations from his time in Jefferson.

Allegation(s)

Johnson is named on the Archdiocese of Boston’s list of credibly accused clergy for an allegation of child sexual abuse in 1957 at a parish in Weymouth, Massachusetts. The allegation was made known in 1992, according to the archdiocese. Johnson was removed from ministry in 2004 and died in 2009.

Johnson served on loan to St. Patrick Church (now Cathedral) in Charlotte from 1957 to 1959, when the Diocese of Raleigh oversaw the Catholic Church across North Carolina. The Diocese of Charlotte is unaware of any allegations of abuse against Johnson other than the allegation in Massachusetts.

Allegation(s)

In September of 2003, Leonard’s supervising religious order, the Augustinians, removed him from ministry at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Charlotte after receiving a credible allegation against him of sexual abuse in New York in 1982. Leonard remains permanently out of ministry. There are no documented abuse allegations against him in the Diocese of Charlotte.

Allegation(s)

In 2002, the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey, reported to the Diocese of Charlotte that it had received credible allegations of abuse against Littleton alleged to have occurred in New Jersey in the early 1990s. The Charlotte diocese removed Littleton from ministry at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church in Charlotte in February of 2004. He served here in the late 1990s and early 2000s without documented abuse allegations. Littleton denied the allegations and remains permanently out of ministry.

Allegation(s)

In 2008, McGovern was permanently removed from ministry by his supervising religious order, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales’ Wilmington-Philadelphia Province, after a claim of abuse from the 1960s in Delaware was substantiated. In 2019, he was residing at a supervised Oblates-owned facility in Washington, D.C. There are no credible abuse allegations documented against him during his ministry in the 1980s in the Diocese of Charlotte.

Allegation(s)

In 2002, Delaware’s Attorney General received an allegation against O’Neill of sexual abuse of a minor from 1976 to 1985 in Wilmington, Delaware. When the Diocese of Charlotte was alerted in April of 2002, O’Neill was removed as pastor of St. Paul the Apostle Church in Greensboro, where he had been assigned by his supervising order. O’Neill admitted the abuse, according to court documents. In 2019, he was residing at a supervised Oblates-owned facility in Maryland. There are no abuse allegations documented from his ministry here in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Allegation(s)

In January of 2010, the Diocese of Raleigh permanently removed Parker from ministry after receiving a credible allegation against him of sexual abuse in 1981 or 1982 at a Newton Grove parish. He served in several parishes in the 1960s that are now part of the Diocese of Charlotte, with no abuse allegations documented. In 2018, Parker was named on the Raleigh diocese’s list of credibly accused clergy.

Allegation(s)

In May of 2006, the Diocese of Peoria removed Pillon from ministry after learning of allegations of sexual abuse in the early 1980s when he served in California. He served on loan to the Diocese of Charlotte from 1996 to 1999, with no documented allegations against him here.

Allegation(s)

In October of 2019, Richardson was publicly named on the Ohio-based Glenmary Home Missioners’ list of credibly accused clergy. Alleged abuse of a minor by Richardson occurred in 2005 in Kentucky, the society said. He also was named on the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi’s list for an abuse allegation there. Richardson served in Sylva, North Carolina, for one year in the mid-1980s, with no abuse allegations documented here.

Allegation(s)

In December of 2018, the Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama, named Rutledge on its list of credibly accused clergy for an abuse allegation from Auburn, Alabama, in 1968. In the early 1970s, he served at St. Mary Catholic Church in Greensboro (called Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Catholic Church until 1972). There are no documented abuse allegations during his ministry in the Diocese of Charlotte.

Allegation(s)

In July of 2018, Spangenberg was named in the Pennsylvania Attorney General grand jury’s report for alleged sexual abuse of at least two minors in the 1980s in Pittsburgh. He was assigned by his supervising religious order, the Spiritans, to ministry in the Diocese of Charlotte in the 1990s, where no allegations are documented against him.

Allegation(s)

In June of 2019, the Diocese of Providence publicly named Tanguay on its list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse, for allegations during his ministry in Rhode Island from 1965 to 1981. Tanguay served in Hmong ministry for seven years in the Diocese of Charlotte, with no documented allegations of abuse here. He was removed from ministry in Charlotte in June of 2002 by the Providence diocese, which last reported Tanguay was living outside the U.S.

Allegation(s)

In October of 2019, Vertassich was publicly named on the Ohio-based Glenmary Home Missioners’ list of credibly accused clergy. Alleged abuse of a minor by Vertassich occurred in 1969 in Connecticut, the society said. In the 1960s, he served in parishes in western North Carolina that later became part of the Diocese of Charlotte. There are no documented abuse allegations against Vertassich from his ministry in western North Carolina.

Allegation(s)

In March of 2018, the Diocese of Buffalo named Ward on its list of “deceased priests with more than one allegation made against them,” for abuse in parishes in New York in 1955-1956 and 1966-1971, according to published reports. Ward had been ordained for the Diocese of Raleigh in 1950, which, following Buffalo’s listing, included Ward on its list of credibly accused clergy in 2019. Ward served without documented incident in Winston-Salem, which later became part of the Diocese of Charlotte.