Body of Priest Is Exhumed to Establish Whether He Fathered a Child Decades Ago

By Michael Rezendes
Boston Globe
June 19, 2018

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/06/19/body-priest-exhumed-establish-whether-fathered-child-decades-ago/0CHkMP8J7APPqHl8PtxIaJ/story.html

Jim Graham with a picture of the Rev. Thomas Sullivan, who he contends was his father.

For 25 years, Jim Graham has tried to prove he is the son of a deceased Catholic priest who grew up in Lowell and graduated from Boston College.

He pulled old adoption records that mention his “alleged father.” He leaned on leaked documents from a friendly priest and petitioned Catholic leaders all the way to Rome, to no avail.

The quest continued Monday afternoon in a Catholic cemetery in Tewksbury, as a backhoe turned up earth on the Rev. Thomas Sullivan’s grave and promised to provide answers once and for all.