Msgr. Francis McCaa was allegedly one of the most
egregious sexual abusers of children in the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Altoona–Johnstown.
A grand jury report issued earlier
this year by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, which detailed
an alleged decades-long coverup of abuse in the diocese, succinctly
called him a “monster” with a “sickening hunger for innocence.”
The
report alleges, based on testimony from interviewed victims, that McCaa
may have abused hundreds of children when he served at Holy Name
Catholic Church in Ebensburg from 1961 to 1985.
A civil case was brought against McCaa in 1986.
Pretrial
records were sealed by a Cambria County judge on Dec. 11, 1986, leaving
them unseen until they were opened this year following an appeal by The
Tribune-Democrat.
The number of victims in that case was redacted.
“The
sheer number of children that McCaa offended was staggering,” said
Daniel Dye, an attorney with the AG’s office who has played a lead role
in investigating the diocese.
The attorney general’s
report claims McCaa reached under vestments to squeeze boys’ genitals
and fondled children in the confessional.
He reportedly told one altar boy that “if you ever use this I’m going to rip it off” when gripping the victim’s penis.
But McCaa was loved and respected by many people in the church community.
In
the report, one alleged victim recalls his mother slapping him after he
told her McCaa reached inside the child’s pocket and touched his
genitals. She said the monsignor was “just being friendly.”
“McCaa completely integrated the abuse of children into his role as a priest,” Dye said.
‘Lives ... torn apart’
McCaa
was sent for evaluation in December 1985 and then served at a veterans
hospital in West Virginia. He eventually retired from the ministry in
1993 and died in 2007, but his alleged actions still impact the diocese.
One
of his accusers, Brian Gergely, became an outspoken critic of the
Altoona-Johnstown Diocese’s handling of child sexual abuse allegations.
Gergely, from a devout Catholic family, was allegedly abused by McCaa, beginning when Gergely was 10 years old.
“I
was standing in the sacristy and he pinned me to the desk. I was just a
little guy,” Gergely said during a March interview with The Guardian, a
British newspaper.
In July, Gergely, 46, committed suicide by hanging himself.
At least one of McCaa’s other alleged victims killed himself before Gergely, according to the attorney general’s report.
Others
reported suffering difficulties in personal relationships, damage to
their sexuality, doubting faith in God and having flashbacks “when
hearing church bells.”
“The Grand Jury has no doubt
that many young lives were torn apart by Monsignor Francis McCaa as he
used his position and authority to murder the dignity of these
children,” according to the March report that gathered information from
at least 15 of McCaa’s alleged victims.
‘Bad as may be!’
McCaa’s story takes up more than four full pages in the grand jury report.
Details
are provided about Bishop James Hogan meeting with then Cambria County
Assistant District Attorney Patrick Kiniry to discuss allegations of
sexual abuse against the priest.
In his own handwritten notes, the late
bishop stated the district attorney’s office, led by Gerard Long at the
time, was already aware of the matter and representatives of the office
planned to meet with the families of the children.
“They
will try to defuse,” Hogan wrote. “But, while the D.A. may refuse to
sign the complaint, the issue could be taken to one of the 4 Judges –
who might or might not order the D.A. to sign. The officials must be
careful not to whitewash if complaint is filed with lads support, no
option! Bad as may be!”
Long, who went on to become a
Cambria County judge, testified before the grand jury in September 2015
that he had no knowledge his assistants in the district attorney’s
office met with diocese officials.
But Kiniry indicated he met with Hogan at Long’s request, according to the report.
The
AG’s document states that following the interaction between the diocese
and DA’s office, McCaa was sent to West Virginia, with a “glowing”
recommendation from Hogan.
“Back then the Diocese moved the problem, that’s just how it was,” Kiniry said in his testimony, per the report.
In
the immediate aftermath of the report’s release, Kiniry resigned his
position with the Bishop McCort Catholic High School board of trustees.
The attorney general’s investigation into the entire diocese grew out of
looking into alleged child sexual abuse perpetrated by Brother Stephen
Baker at Bishop McCort.
‘Times have changed’
Kiniry, now a Cambria County judge, was approached for an interview with The Tribune-Democrat.
He declined.
Shortly
after the grand jury report was released, Kiniry disputed information
put out about him by another news outlet.
At the time, he asked the
state’s Judicial Ethics Committee for permission to publicly defend
himself and discuss the report. Kiniry said the group rejected his
request.
“I follow that now,” he said during a phone conversation.
Kiniry
did discuss the McCaa issue with The Tribune-Democrat in 2002, saying,
“You have to understand that it was a different time.
“Then,
more so than now, people were opposed to subjecting children to the
exposure that a case like that would bring,” Kiniry said in 2002. “At
the time, the thinking was, ‘I want something done, but protect my child
from publicity.’ Definitely the thinking has changed. The times have
changed.”
The grand jury report mentioned Kiniry’s
Catholicism, even quoting his testimony – “You have to understand, this
is an extremely Catholic county.” – and explaining how Kiniry had
attended Catholic school, worshiped in a Catholic church, and served as
an altar boy.
When asked to explain the actions of
prosecutors in his office, Long reportedly told the grand jury that his
assistants were both “pretty strict Catholics.”
Kiniry’s record, though, includes filing charges against a Catholic priest for sexual misconduct.
In
2007, when Kiniry served as the county’s district attorney, the Rev.
Gerard Majella Connolly was investigated and accused of 12 felony counts
of institutional sexual assault and five counts of taking contraband
into the prison when ministering at State Correctional
Institution-Cresson.
Connolly was placed in Cambria County’s Accelerated
Rehabilitative Disposition program for first-time offenders and
received 23 months probation.