- The Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts, has settled a lawsuit brought by a former altar boy who claims Bishop Christopher Weldon raped him in the 1960s.
- Weldon, who ceased service in 1977 and died in 1982, allegedly abused the plaintiff – referred to only as “John Doe” – alongside two other unnamed clergy. The diocese denied the allegations as recently as 2019.
- “Mr. Doe’s allegations have been found to be credible, therefore any public statements made on behalf of the Diocese in May or June 2019 that are inconsistent with this are withdrawn,” Bishop William Byrne said of the settlement.
A lawsuit brought by a former altar boy who said he was raped as a child in the 1960s by a now-deceased Roman Catholic bishop in Massachusetts has been settled, the parties announced Friday.
The plaintiff identified in court documents as John Doe alleged in the complaint filed in February 2021 that not only had he been abused by the former bishop of the Diocese of Springfield, Christopher Weldon, as well as two other clergy, but also that the church had engaged in a year-long cover-up to protect the bishop’s reputation and legacy.
The lawsuit also said that even after the abuse allegations against Weldon proved credible, diocesan officials until 2019 denied them.
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The current bishop of the diocese, in a statement announcing the settlement, apologized.
“Mr. Doe’s allegations were found to be credible, therefore any public statements made on behalf of the Diocese in May or June 2019 that are inconsistent with this are withdrawn,” Bishop William Byrne said. “We apologize to Mr. Doe for any harm caused by these statements. We regret that the interaction with the diocese and civil litigation, often the last step in trying to resolve these cases, can leave survivors feeling re-victimized. “
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The Springfield Diocese has settled with a former altar boy whose allegations of sexual abuse against Bishop Christopher Weldon (pictured), who died in 1982, have been deemed credible. (AP Photo/Abe Fox, File)
The alleged abuse occurred when the plaintiff was an altar boy at St. Anne’s Parish in Chicopee, Massachusetts, when he was 9 to 11 years old. Weldon was bishop from 1950 to 1977 and died in 1982.
Even before the lawsuit was filed, a retired Superior Court judge hired by the diocese concluded that the abuse allegations regarding Weldon were “unequivocally credible” and that there was a “reluctance to pursue with fervor an assessment of the allegations against (Weldon) because of his notoriety and a revered heritage in the religious community”.
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“The fact that Mr. Doe was forced to sue in the face of the report prepared by retired Judge Peter A. Velis confirms the Church’s continued failure, despite protests to the contrary, to accept responsibility for the atrocities committed,” Nancy Frankel Pelletier, an attorney for the plaintiff, said in a statement.
Bishop Byrne praised the complainant for coming forward and said the church had learned to better respond to allegations of abuse. Hiding or deterring anyone from reporting abuse will not be tolerated, he said.
“It is Mr. Doe’s hope that Bishop Byrne’s statement will be heard and that no other survivor will be re-victimized for speaking his truth,” Pelletier said.
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The diocese fought to have the lawsuit dismissed on the basis of charitable immunity and the doctrine of church autonomy, derived from the First Amendment, even taking their case to the highest court in the United States. State. However, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled last July in favor of the plaintiff.
