Bishopaccountability.org
February 6, 2011
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/assign/Mercure_Rev_Gary_J.htm
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Contents of this page: Summary, Photos of Mercure, Detailed Chronology of Assignments and Allegations, Summary of Assignments, Sources of Information, Notes
Summary of Cases: Mercure was placed on paid leave (announced on 1/19/08), after the Albany diocese received on 1/11/08 an allegation that Mercure had sexually abused a boy at Our Lady of the Annunciation in Queensbury NY in the mid-1980s. On 1/28/08, four other men came forward, two more from the Queensbury parish, and two from St. Teresa of Avila parish in Albany who alleged abuse in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Then on 5/23/08, John Watkins filed suit alleging that as a vulnerable adult, he had come to Mercure for counseling help regarding earlier sexual abuse, and had been abused by Mercure in turn. Watkins also alleged that Mercure discussed with him the priest's sexual interest in children, and gave him pornographic photographs. Watkins claimed that he apprised the diocese of all this in 1994 and 2000. On 8/15/08, the diocese announced that Mercure had been removed from ministry for the first Queensbury allegation because there "were reasonable grounds to believe he sexually abused a minor ... Subsequently, other people made similar allegations." Mercure has not been laicized or defrocked, which are the technical and popular terms respectively for being "reduced to the lay state" by the Vatican. He is still a priest but is not in ministry.
On 10/30/08, the Berkshire County DA confirmed that Mercure had been indicted on charges of taking two altar boys from New York to Massachusetts and raping them there in 1986 and 1989. Prosecution in Massachusetts was possible because while Mercure was out of state in New York, the statute of limitations in Massachusetts did not run. It is not clear whether these alleged victims are new allegations, or are two of the three men who have already come forward about abuse allegedly done while Mercure was working in Queensbury. Victims' advocates put the number of known accusers of Mercure at 13. After three adjournments, the jury selection for Mercure's trial in Berkshire County Superior Court, before Judge John A. Agostini, began on 1/31/11. The first details of allegations against Mercure emerged during trial testimony. (See below for articles about the trial.)
In addition to his seven parish assignments, Mercure was campus minister at Adirondack Community College for at least 17 years (1982-1999), and was on a diocesan personnel committee concerned with Ongoing Formation and Continuing Education for Priests (2005-2008). When he was promoted to pastor at two Troy churches on the retirement of the previous pastors, Mercure was also given a three-month sabbatical to the North American College in Rome in Fall 2000.
Mercure's 2000 promotion in Troy was a restoration of the pastor status he lost in 1995, when he was demoted from pastor and principal at St. Mary's in Glens Falls and was transferred to a junior position at St. Mary's in Clinton Heights. This demotion in 1995 presumably resulted from the allegations made by John Watkins. As part of the transfer from Glens Falls to Clinton Heights, the Vice Chancellor of the Albany diocese, Rev. Martin Fisher, was moved into St. Mary's in Glens Falls as pastor, presumably to do damage control.
At two of Mercure's assignments, another priest now accused of child abuse was living in the same rectory: Rev. David G. Bentley at St. Teresa's in Albany (1978-1982), and Rev. Mark Haight at St. Mary's in Glens Falls (1991-1995), where Mercure was also head of the regional school. He'd graduated from St. Mary's in 1966.
Ordained: 1974
Incardinated: Diocese of Albany; sabbatical in Rome in Fall 2000
Summary of Assignments
1974-1978 Our Lady of the Assumption church, Latham NY
1978-1982 St. Teresa of Avila church, Albany NY
1978-1982 Albany Medical Center, Albany NY
1982-1991 Our Lady of the Annunciation church, Queensbury NY
1982-1999 Adirondack Community College, Glens Falls NY, campus minister
1991-1995 St. Mary's church, Glens Falls NY, pastor
1991-1995 St. Mary-St. Alphonsus Regional Catholic School, Glens Falls NY
1995-1996 Whereabouts uncertain
1996-1997 St. Mary's church, Clinton Heights NY
1997-2008 Sacred Heart church, Troy NY, pastor 2000-2008
1999-2008 St. William's church, Troy NY, pastor 2000-2008
2000 North American College, student
Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.
Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.
This assignment record collates Mercure's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations of sexual abuse as reported in the media, represented in diocesan statements, and alleged in a civil suit and criminal indictments. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.
This assignment record was last updated on 2/6/11.
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