Three Area Priests in Abuse Cases Defrocked

By Mark Sullivan
Telegram & Gazette
June 25, 2015

http://www.telegram.com/article/20150625/NEWS/150629351/101478

Three former Worcester Diocese priests implicated in the sexual abuse of minors have been formally defrocked by Rome, the diocese has announced.

The three men, Gerard L. Branconnier, Robert E. Kelley and Lowe B. Dongor, have been dismissed from the clerical state by the Vatican and may never again function in any capacity as priests, according to a statement issued by Bishop Robert J. McManus.

“It is my fervent prayer that Christ may bring healing and hope to anyone who has been abused by these men or by anyone in the Catholic Church,” Bishop McManus said.

Mr. Branconnier, 63, who was assigned as a priest to the parishes of St. Roch in Oxford, North American Martyrs in Auburn, Sacred Heart of Jesus in Gardner, and St. Paul & St. Thomas Aquinas in Warren, had been removed from ministry by Bishop Timothy Harrington in 1993 following "credible allegations of abuse" involving a 16-year-old boy, the diocese said. His case was sent to Rome in 2005.

Mr. Kelley, 73, who was assigned as a priest to the parishes of Notre Dame in Southbridge, St. Boniface in Lunenburg, St. Cecilia in Leominster and Sacred Heart in Gardner, was removed from ministry by Bishop Harrington in 1985 following "credible allegations of abuse" occurring in the 1970s, according to the diocese. Mr. Kelley has served two prison terms for sexual abuse of children and is registered in Massachusetts as a level-three sex offender, the diocese said. His case was sent to Rome in 2005.

Mr. Dongor, 38, who was assigned to St. Joseph's Parish in Fitchburg as an associate pastor, was removed from ministry by Bishop McManus in 2011 after being charged with possession of child pornography. After receiving a suspended sentence on child porn and larceny charges, he was deported to the Philippines. His case went to Rome in 2011.

Bishop McManus invited anyone who has suffered from clerical abuse to contact the diocesan victims' assistance coordinator in the Office of Healing and Prevention. He cited the words of Pope Francis: "Everything possible must be done to rid the Church of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors and to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who were abused."