A priest placed on administrative leave 15 years ago after allegations of sexual abuse surfaced has been passing himself off as a cleric in good standing in Morris County and elsewhere, Catholic Church authorities said Tuesday.George Costigan, 82, recently showed up at St. Matthew’s parish in Randolph wearing clerical attire, even though he has been prohibited from doing so since 1994, said Ken Mullaney, an attorney with the Paterson Roman Catholic Diocese.
Mullaney said local police and school officials are being notified as a precaution. The diocese also sent an e-mail, obtained by the Daily Record, to local priests to be on the lookout for Costigan.
Monsignor James Mahoney, vicar general of the diocese, sent an e-mail on Jan. 9 asking priests for their help in a “sensitive matter.”
It said Costigan had been presenting himself as a priest at “several parishes … both in the diocese and outside the diocese.”
Mullaney directed in the e-mail that priests ask Costigan to leave, and then call the diocese.
“If he refuses to leave, then you must contact the local police so that he will be off the premises,” Mahoney said in the e-mail.
Mullaney said Costigan, who has been living in the Randolph-Dover area, has been warned about passing himself off as a priest before, and told that he faced the possibility of losing his pension and medical benefits.
Costigan never was prosecuted for his alleged crimes and is not subject to Megan’s Law because the statute of limitations ran out by the time his accuser came forward, Mullaney said.
A Philadelphia-area woman went to Catholic Church officials in 1993 to accuse Costigan of sexually abusing her decades before - when he was a member of the Christian Brothers lay order and before he was ordained a priest of the Paterson Diocese in 1974 - starting when she was 9 years old and continuing until she was 16.
Costigan was removed from his position as chaplain at Dover General Hospital in 1994 as a result of those allegations, Mullaney said.
Though Costigan was not defrocked, Bishop Frank Rodimer prohibited him from wearing clerical clothing and passing himself off as a priest, Mullaney said.
Mullaney said Costigan violated that prohibition two years ago at a parish outside of Pennsylvania and that Bishop Arthur Serratelli sent him a letter warning him that he could lose benefits.
The diocese also sent letters at the time to various places where Costigan had been associated in the past - including St. Clare’s Hospital, Sacred Heart Parish in Rockaway, and the Felician Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi Convent in Mount Arlington.
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(Source: RCN)