Retired Paterson Priest Accused of Sex Assault after Performing Wedding

By Matthew Mcgrath
The Record
February 21, 2014

http://www.northjersey.com/news/Retired_Paterson_priest_accused_of_making_sexual_advance_after_performing_wedding.html

A retired Roman Catholic priest has been charged with having criminal sexual contact with a man after officiating at a wedding in Prospect Park and attending the reception in Randolph, authorities said Friday.

The Reverend Philip Briganti, 67, of El Paso, Texas, engaged “in unwanted contact” with the victim on a bus that took wedding guests from the reception to a hotel, Acting Morris County Prosecutor Frederic M. Knapp said in a release.

Briganti, who was charged Thursday with one count of criminal sexual contact, remained at large in Texas, Knapp said. The accused worked at St. Joseph’s Church in Mendham nine years ago and also has been an Army chaplain at Fort Bliss in El Paso.

The contact is alleged to have taken place on Nov. 9, 2013, the same day Briganti performed a wedding ceremony at St. Paul’s Church in Prospect Park, Knapp said.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson reported the allegations to authorities on Dec. 5, immediately after receiving a letter from the victim, Knapp and a diocese spokesman, Rich Sokerka, said. Diocesan authorities called prosecutors in the counties of Bergen, Passaic and Morris because the victim was not sure of the bus’s location when the alleged crime took place, Sokerka said.

CNN once profiled Briganti for a series on Iraq war heroes, focusing on his ministry at Fort Bliss, which had several soldiers killed or captured at the start of the Iraq War in 2003. Briganti served in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, according to the Paterson Diocese.

Church authorities said Briganti’s “priestly faculties” have been revoked, which means he is not allowed to present himself as a priest by wearing the clerical collar or to function as a priest in any way.

Email: mcgrathm@northjersey.com