Victim Recalls Childhood Abuse at Civil Trial of Bishops

By Father Bill Pomerleau
iobserve
July 26, 2012

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SPRINGFIELD – Testimony in the civil trial of Springfield Bishop Emeritus Joseph F. Maguire and former Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupre began July 24 with dramatic testimony from abuse victim Andrew Nicastro.

Fighting back tears at several points in during his 45 minutes on the witness stand, Nicastro recounted how he had been a happy child, in an intact nuclear family, growing up in Williamstown before a new priest, then-Father Alfred C. Graves, arrived at St. Patrick Parish in 1981. But by early 1982, his pastor had begun to sexually abuse him in the parish church and rectory.

“It was done with laughter. I felt chosen,” Nicastro said in a quiet voice after recounting in graphic detail how Graves had improper sexual contact with him behind St. Patrick’s sanctuary after funeral or wedding liturgies, and in the rectory where he was invited in during his daily newspaper delivery,

Nicastro said the abuse continued until shortly after Graves became the pastor of the former St. Matthew Parish in Indian Orchard in October, 1985. The priest invited him to an overnight stay in his new rectory, where he smoked cigarettes and relaxed with the man he then considered a special friend.

“My parents were supportive of the visit; they drove me down,” Nicastro testified, explaining that, at the time, he never mentioned Grave’s abuse to his parents.

Nicastro, who was 15 at the time of the incident, said that when the priest entered his bedroom and attempted to abuse him in his bed, he fled to a rectory bathroom and locked the door.

Nicastro had no further contact with Graves, who was removed from active ministry by the late Springfield Bishop John A. Marshall in 1992. Graves was laicized in 2006.

Before the trial recessed for the day, Nicastro began to recount how he developed anti-social behavior and anxiety in his adolescence.

“I started smoking. I started drinking at 14. School was not that important. I started smoking pot,” he said, clutching a facial tissue during his emotional testimony.

The veracity of the abuse in not being questioned by either side in the current trial, which does not name Graves or the Diocese of Springfield as defendants.

“There is no need to refer to Mr. Nicastro as an alleged victim. What happened at the hand of Alfred Graves should never, ever have happened,” said Attorney John J. Egan, who is representing Bishop Maguire. “The question is: Who is responsible?” Egan told the jury in his opening statement.

“The villain here is Alfred Graves,” Egan said.

Greenfield attorney John Stobierski, lead attorney for Nicastro in the trial, began his opening statement by showing the jury enlarged photos of his client dressed as a 10-year- old altar boy and as a Little League baseball player.

Stobierski said that he intends to prove that Bishop Maguire, when confronted in 1977 with an earlier instance of abuse by Graves, failed to properly supervise the then-priest so that he would not abuse others. He explained that the evidence he will present will include testimony and/or affidavits from two other abuse victims.

Egan said that when Bishop Maguire testifies, he will acknowledge that he met with at least one of the victims and the victim’s father. He does not recall the second victim being present at the meeting, Egan said.

Charles K. Bergin Jr., an attorney for Bishop Dupre, told the jury in his opening remarks that his client knew nothing of Graves’ early misconduct, since it was handled personally by Bishop Maguire. He cautioned the jury to not be unduly influenced by his client’s invoking of his constitutional right to remain silent in a 2010 deposition.

The deposition, a videotape of which is likely to be aired at the trial, touched on several matters beyond the conduct of Alfred Graves, Bergin explained.

During their statements, all three lawyers agreed that the statute of limitations for filing a civil suit of negligent supervision will be an issue during the trial. Under state law, plaintiffs can only mount a civil lawsuit years after the alleged act of negligence if they only recently came to realize that abusive acts they experienced were emotionally or psychologically harmful.

Nicastro is expected to complete his testimony tomorrow. The plaintiff is then expected to call an out-of-state expert in sexual abuse to the stand, as well as Jesuit Father Mark J. Burke, the former administrator of Sts. Patrick and Raphael Parish in Williamstown.

So far, procedural matters in the trial have been free of public acrimony among the seven attorneys involved in the case. In a post-testimony conference with attorneys, Judge Constance Sweeney appeared willing to allow out-of-state witnesses for the defense to testify before the plaintiff rests his case.

“I’m going to try to accommodate everyone here,” Sweeney said.