Vermont’s Roman Catholic diocese is facing new allegations that two priests hired in the 1960s and 1970s remained with the Diocese even after allegations of sexual misconduct involving children were received by church officials.The allegations are contained in documents filed in Chittenden Superior Court last week as part of a separate molestation case.
Attorney Jerome O’Neill is using the information as part of the case of a Virginia Beach, Va., man who alleges that former Rev. Alfred Willis molested him in 1977.
The case is due to go to trial next week.
The Diocese is asking the court to prevent O’Neill from bringing up evidence about how the diocese handled other child molestation claims. It says church officials had no prior knowledge of child molestation misconduct by Willis.
O’Neill says it’s relevant to the current case.
“It was the pattern and practice of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington to cover up adult and child sexual abuse by its priests, to fail to supervise its clergy in this respect,” O’Neill wrote in a court document.
Judge Ben Joseph has yet to rule on the church’s request.
The latest documents say one of the priests was hired by then-Bishop Robert F. Joyce in 1963 despite warnings that he not be given “an assignment in a high school for boys.”
In the other case, Joyce refused to ordain a priest who was dismissed from seminary school for “bad moral conduct.”
The same individual was ordained by Joyce’s successor, the Rev. John Marshall, in 1973.
In 1977, that priest was the subject of a complaint of “inappropriate behavior with a 14-year-old altar boy on several occasions.”
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