NEW LONDON (CT)
The Day
January 22. 2019
By Joe Wojtas
A third Jesuit priest “credibly accused” of sexually assaulting minors, served for years in the Norwich Diocese.
But when the USA Northeast Jesuit Province released a list last week of 50 Northeast priests “credibly accused” of sexually assaulting minors since 1950, the Rev. Eugene Orteneau was not listed as serving at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Storrs. In 2007, the Norwich Diocese agreed to pay $300,000 of a $1.2 million settlement — the Jesuits paid the remainder — to Joshua Heathcote of Coventry, who claimed Orteneau repeatedly molested him at St. Thomas Aquinas beginning when he 16.
Instead, the Jesuits only listed Orteneau as serving at Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River, Mass., from 1976 to ’78 and at Cheverus High School in Portland, Maine, from 1978 to ’79.
Rev. Robert Pecoraro, the president of Cheverus, posted a message on the school website last week saying Orteneau was among seven accused priests who served at the school. He wrote that Orteneau was accused of sexual assaulting a minor during the time frame of 1992 to ’95.
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