FERNDALE (MI)
Church Militant
June 24, 2020
By Bradley Eli
Judge: allegations ‘unequivocally credible’
Springfield, Mass. – An independent report released by the diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts is asserting that sex abuse claims against Springfield’s former Bp. Christopher Weldon are unequivocally credible” and the diocese covered for him.
In a 375-page report released by the diocese on Wednesday, retired judge Peter A. Velis removed all doubt about the credibility of the allegations against the late Bp. Weldon.
“Therefore, I find the allegations of the complainant of sexual molestation committed upon him by Bp. Christopher J. Weldon,” wrote Velis, “that included anal rape, indecent assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress are unequivocally credible.”
He added, “The allegations that were investigated and examined are not dubious, vague or ambiguous in any essentials, nor are they the product of any chimerical conception, fabrication or schematic design.”
The late Weldon, who died in 1982, was the subject of an independent investigation owing to allegations first heard by Springfield’s Diocesan Review Board in June 2018. Velis, who was tapped the following year to conduct an independent investigation, was critical of the board’s gross mishandling of the allegations.
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