See 16 Names, Bios of New Orleans Clergy Linked to Sex Abuse Scandal; Full List Nears Daylight
By Ramon Antonio Vargas and Matt Sledge
CLAUDE P. BOUDREAUX Position: Jesuit priest, teacher at Jesuit High School Served: Jesuit High School (1967-1973, 1976-2005) Age: Died in 2016 at age 91 Status: Removed from ministry in 2005 Details: Ordained in 1955, Boudreaux was removed from ministry in 2005 after the Jesuit order received what it deemed to be a credible report of the sexual abuse of a minor from more than three decades before, according to The Times-Picayune. The Jesuits released few other details, citing the victim’s right to privacy. Boudreaux, a native of Houma, was sent to live in an undisclosed location for medical treatment. Afterwards, Boudreaux lived at the Ignatius Residence in New Orleans, according to his obituary. When that home closed in 2013, he relocated to the St. Camillus Jesuit Community in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
GEORGE BRIGNAC Position: Archdiocesan deacon, teacher Served: Our Lady of the Rosary Parish (1976-88); lector at St. Mary Magdalen Parish (2016-2018); and, before 1976, St. Matthew the Apostle School, St. John Vianney Prep School and Cabrini High School Age: 83 Status: Removed from ministry in 1988 Details: Archbishop Gregory Aymond said he was “utterly surprised and embarrassed” in July 2018 when he found out that Brignac, who was removed from ministry in 1988, was serving as a lay lector at a Metairie church. More than 10 boys have accused Brignac of molesting them, with the claims spanning many years and multiple parishes and schools across New Orleans. In 2018, the archdiocese paid more than $500,000 to an accuser who said he was raped by Brignac between about 1979 and 1982, when the deacon was the co-director of the altar boy program at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish. A pair of plaintiffs have since filed similar lawsuits, and others have claims which are in process. Brignac declined comment when contacted recently. He previously told The Advocate he was “attracted to children” and admitted to touching young boys, though he said it wasn’t for “immoral” purposes.
PAUL CALAMARI Position: Archdiocesan priest Served: St. Raphael the Archangel, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary and Our Lady of Perpetual Help parishes (1980-1997), Archdiocese of New Orleans Age: 74 Status: Removed from ministry in 2003 Details: Calamari was accused of sexually abusing a minor before his ordination to the priesthood in 1980, according to The Times-Picayune. In addition to his service as a priest, he also spent time as the director of religious instruction for the archdiocese, the newspaper reported. He left the New Orleans area in 1997 for St. John Vianney Center in Pennsylvania, a psychiatric treatment facility for priests. Calamari had relocated to the Wilmington diocese in Delaware when he was removed from ministry in 2003. Church officials said they had received credible allegations against him. Public records suggest Calamari still lived in Delaware as of 2017. He couldn’t be reached for comment.
DINO CINEL Position: Archdiocesan priest, Tulane University historian Served: St. Rita Catholic Church (1979-1988) Age: Died in 2018 at 76 Status: Laicized in 2010 Details: A native of Italy, Cinel was living in the St. Rita rectory in 1988 when another priest discovered a cache of child pornography and videotapes of Cinel having sex with young men, according to media reports. When the discovery was made public two years later, it sparked a protracted legal battle and allegations that then-District Attorney Harry Connick Sr., a St. Rita parishioner, hobbled his office’s efforts to prosecute the case. Connick denies improperly handling the matter. Cinel left the priesthood after the scandal broke, although he was not formally laicized until 2010. Cinel’s life came to a violent end in Colombia in February 2018, when he was stabbed to death by an 18-year-old man who was also his lover.
CHARLES G. "CHARLEY" COYLE Position: Jesuit priest Served: Jesuit High School (1960s), Holy Cross High School (1980s), St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church in Algiers, Center for Jesus the Lord (1980s), Tulane University Age: Died in 2015 at age 83 Status: Removed from ministry in 2002 Details: Ordained in 1965, Coyle was removed from ministry after being accused in a 2002 lawsuit of abusing two boys in the 1970s at Newton South High School outside Boston. At the time the allegations were made, Coyle worked and lived in New Orleans but was not attached to a parish. Coyle neither confirmed nor denied those claims, The Times-Picayune reported. Coyle worked at Jesuit in the 1960s. He also worked at St. Andrew the Apostle church as well as at a spirituality center known as the Center for Jesus the Lord in the 1980s. Later, he lived at St. Cecilia Parish, serving as a chaplain at Holy Cross High School and Tulane University. He eventually served as a substitute for vacationing priests. He became the first known case in which a New Orleans priest was suspended following the abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston in 2002. A second lawsuit filed in 2003 accused Coyle of sexually abusing a boy while Coyle was a seminarian in Baltimore, according to The Times-Picayune.
CARL DAVIDSON Position: Archdiocesan priest Served: St. John Vianney Prep School (dates unclear), musician and accompanist for St. Louis Cathedral boys choir Age: Died in 2007 at age 67 Status: Retired in 2002 Details: Davidson was a music teacher at St. John Vianney Prep School in New Orleans. According to 2004 articles in the Times-Picayune, a man claimed Davidson tried to molest him years earlier when the victim was a boy. The accuser said he and a second victim went to the archdiocese in 2002 and complained, resulting in Davidson’s removal and retirement from ministry. But, according to The Times-Picayune, that action wasn’t publicly discussed until 2004, an apparent violation of guidelines to disclose such matters following the Boston scandal two years earlier.
MICHAEL FRASER Position: Archdiocesan priest Served: Sts. Peter and Paul in Pearl River; St. Raphael the Archangel; Visitation of Our Lady in Marrero Age: 69 Status: Removed from ministry in 2004 Details: Ordained in 1975, Fraser was accused of abusing boys in the mid-1980s and in 1991 while at Sts. Peter and Paul, The Times-Picayune reported. Fraser was removed in 2004, after the archdiocese received the complaint with the accusations against Fraser from the mid-1980s. Fraser was the pastor at Visitation of Our Lady at the time. After his removal, a separate lawsuit which was settled accused him of abusing a boy at St. Raphael about 1983. He was among a group of priests removed from ministry following sexual abuse allegations who later sued Archbishop Alfred Hughes for defamation. He couldn’t be reached for comment.
PATRICK KEANE Position: Archdiocesan priest Age: 70 Served: St. Catherine of Siena, St. Mary Magdalen, both in Metairie Status: Removed from ministry in 1994 Details: A man who identified himself publicly as Patrick Collins told church officials in 1994 that as a teenager he’d been molested by Keane in the rectory of St. Mary Magdalen in the early 1980s, according to The Times-Picayune. Keane had been ordained in 1973 and was an associate at St. Catherine of Siena at the time of the allegation. He was removed from ministry, left the priesthood, and admitted the abuse under oath in a 1999 deposition, according to a Times-Picayune story. A civil lawsuit involving the allegations was settled in 2003, records show. Attempts to contact him for comment were unsuccessful.
JAMES KILGOUR Position: Archdiocesan Priest Age: 72 Served: Our Lady of the Lake in Mandeville, St. Pius X Status: Removed from ministry in 1994 Details: Ordained in 1973, Kilgour was accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old altar boy in 1980 and 1981 at Our Lady of the Lake, according to The Times-Picayune. Three others were also accused of roles in the case. Kilgour was placed on leave in 1987, when a civil suit in the case was filed. He was working at St. Pius X at the time. He recently told The Advocate he did not return to the ministry. The suit was settled in April 1991, but Kilgour said he did not assume any responsibility for wrongdoing.
GERARD P. KINANE Position: Archdiocesan Priest Served: St. Mark Catholic Church in Chalmette (1973-1978); St. Hilary Catholic Church in Houma (1981-1985); St. Luke Catholic Church in Slidell (1999-2004) Age: 73 Status: Removed from ministry in 2004 Details: A man came forward in 2004 to allege that Kinane sexually abused him in two incidents in 1973 and 1975 when he was a teenager and Kinane was an associate pastor at St. Mark, according to The Times-Picayune. One incident allegedly occurred in the church and another on a trip to the Honey Island Swamp near Slidell. Kinane was soon removed from ministry, but he continued to insist on his innocence in a defamation lawsuit against the archdiocese. The suit was dismissed in 2010. Kinane couldn’t be reached for comment. Credit: Google maps
BERNARD KNOTH Position: Jesuit Priest Served: Loyola University New Orleans (president) Age: 69 Status: Resigned in 2003 Details: Ordained in 1977, Knoth resigned as president of Loyola in 2003 after being accused of sexually abusing a student at Brebeuf Jesuit Prep in Indianapolis in 1986, according to The Times-Picayune. He denied wrongdoing, but the order deemed the allegation credible, and he was removed from ministry. He later entered private business in Florida. The Archdiocese of Indianapolis included him on a publicly released list of clergy who had been credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor. Knoth recently told The Advocate, “I still stand with what I said when I resigned from Loyola. (The allegation) was untrue.”
WESLEY MICHAEL LANDRY Position: Archdiocesan priest, monsignor Served: Incarnate Word Church in New Orleans; St. Leo the Great Parish in New Orleans Age: Died in 2002 at 78 Status: Retired in 1993 Details: Landry was ordained in 1948 and rose to assume the prestigious title of Monsignor. An accuser said Landry seduced him while he was an altar boy at Incarnate Word and continued a sexual relationship with him for 45 years, trading him money for sex, according to The Times-Picayune. Landry admitted to the relationship in 1993 and retired. The archdiocese paid the accuser $7,000 that year for a release from liability, the Times-Picayune reported.
RICHARD NOWERY Position: Holy Cross priest Served: Pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in New Orleans Age: Died in April 2018 at age 80 Status: Removed from ministry in 2002 Details: Ordained in 1968, Nowery was accused in 1986 of sexually abusing two boys in Austin, Texas, according to The Times-Picayune. He underwent treatment and came back to church where he recruited clergy but was restricted from unsupervised access to children. After the 2002 church abuse scandal in Boston, the archdiocese reviewed Nowery's personnel file and removed him from ministry. He was the pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus in Mid-City. His case demonstrates how church policy changed after the scandal erupted in 2002.
JOSEPH PELLETTIERI Position: Redemptorist priest Served: Notre Dame High School in Crowley, Ave Maria Retreat House in Crown Point Age: 79 Status: Removed from ministry in 2002 Details: According to The Times-Picayune, an unidentified man contacted church officials in April 2002 and reported being sexually abused by Pellettieri, who was ordained in 1965, when the victim was a minor in 1967. At the time in question, Pellettieri was a teacher and principal at Notre Dame High School, and the boy was described as the son of a janitor. After the allegation, Archbishop Alfred Hughes suspended Pellettieri, who was running the Ave Maria Retreat House in Crown Point. Pellettieri had also worked in Wisconsin, Alexandria and Baton Rouge. It is not clear if the Redemptorist order acted similarly. A lawsuit against Pellettieri was later dismissed on grounds of statute of limitations. He couldn’t be reached for comment.
PATRICK B. SANDERS Position: Archdiocesan priest Served: Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Belle Chasse Age: 55 Status: Removed from ministry in 2004 Details: Ordained in 1990, Sanders was sidelined from serving as a pastor in 2004 after two men came forward to report they were sexually abused as teenagers 11 years before, according to The Times-Picayune. In 2005, Archbishop Alfred Hughes announced that he had permanently removed Sanders from the priesthood after three hearing officers said they believed Sanders committed the abuse. At the time, he was the pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help and well-liked by his congregation. Public records suggest Sanders has since become an attorney. He declined to comment but has previously denied wrongdoing.
JOHN SAX Position: Archdiocesan priest Served: St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Reserve, St. John Vianney Villa (a Marrero retirement home for priests) Age: 70 Status: Removed from ministry in 2000 Details: Ordained in 1973, Sax admitted he molested an altar boy repeatedly between 1980 and 1985 at St. Peter’s, according to The Times-Picayune. The victim approached another priest in 2000, disclosed the abuse and was put in touch with a therapist. The victim sued. Sax was placed on leave when the allegations were first reported. He remained a priest in 2004 but had no priestly duties and was reportedly living in an undisclosed location, according to The Times-Picayune. Sax had helped the archdiocese draft a sex-abuse policy some seven years before his accuser came forward, the Times-Picayune reported. Sax, who held the prestigious title of monsignor, didn’t return a message seeking comment.
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