Bishopaccountability.org
April 6, 2011
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/legal/Manchester/St_Jean/John_Doe_v_Manchester_Diocese_and_Oblates/
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The lawsuit John Doe v. Diocese of Manchester and Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate was filed on July 21, 2010. The suit alleged that Rev. George St. Jean OMI sexually abused John Doe, an 11- or 12-year-old altar boy, on multiple occasions in 1967-1968. The abuse usually occurred at the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace. St. Jean would force the altar boy to touch the priest's genitals and to masturbate the priest.
This was the second suit alleging sexual abuse by St. Jean. On May 18, 2010, John Labbe had filed a complaint alleging abuse by St. Jean in 1965-1969, beginning when the boy was 9 years old. The alleged abuse began with fondling and proceeded to sodomy.
In addition to these cases, the Diocese of Manchester reported to the New Hampshire Attorney General that it had received a complaint in 2004 that St. Jean sexually abused a New Hampshire boy in Massachusetts in 1960-1961. The diocese also reported that in 2008, it received word that a woman had reported to the Oblates that her brother had been sexually abused in the 1960s at the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace. Perhaps this report pertains to the Labbe allegation.
On February 14, 2011, the Diocese of Manchester filed a motion to force the plaintiff in the John Doe suit to identify himself. The plaintiff filed an objection and an affidavit which stated that he feared the effects that disclosing his name would have on his family and his livelihood.
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