FALL RIVER (MA)
The Herald
By Brian Fraga
* Below is the full text of a letter that the late James Porter wrote to Pope Paul VI in 1973 requesting to be laicized. The 19-page letter was provided by attorney Jeff Anderson, who is representing a Minnesota woman in a new lawsuit against the Diocese of Fall River and two other co-defendants. Porter, a notorious predator-priest, allegedly molested the woman several times when she was a 9-year-old girl in the late 1960s.
In the letter, Porter admits to his sexually abusing minors but tells the pope toward the end of the letter that his life was turning around after he started working at a bank. Porter – who was removed from the priesthood in the early 1970s and later married – was convicted in 1993 of molesting 28 kids and he was sentenced to 20 years in state prison. He died of cancer in 2005.
May 17, 1973
Most Holy Father,
I, James Robert Porter, would like to humbly petition Your Eminence for a dispensation to and release from the responsibilities of the priesthood including in this the release from the obligation of celibacy. I am presently living at 1751 Gulden Place, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55109. I have lived at this address since September 1, 1972. Immediately preceding this I had lived at 970 Reaney Ave. St. Paul, Minn, from December, 1971 until Sept. 1, 1972. Previous to this after leaving the priestly life in Nov., 1970 I lived with the Schmitz family in Hastings Minn. just a few miles outside St. Paul. The address of Florence and Leo Schmitz is, 9550 Manning Ave. So., Hastings, Minn. I came to live there at their request. They knew of my situation that I was suspended of my priestly duties by Bishop James L. Connolly of the Fall River Diocese, Mass. and for what reasons. However being the good friends they are of mine and both being wonderful Christians, they in Christian charity request that I live with them until I could find my way clear and assist me back to normal living. I accepted their charitable offer only on the condition that I would remain with them only so long as necessary.
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