FALL RIVER (MA)
Cape Cod Times [Hyannis MA]
June 13, 2024
By Zane Razzaq
BARNSTABLE — A former Cape Cod priest accused of rape did not take the stand before his attorneys rested their case in Barnstable Superior Court on Thursday morning.
Mark Hession served as the parish priest of Our Lady of Victory in Centerville from 2000 to 2014. He is on trial for two counts of rape alleged to have happened between 2005 and 2009 and one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 alleged to have happened sometime in 2002. A count of intimidating a witness was dropped.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges in January of 2021.
Closing statements from attorneys on both sides were expected to be delivered on Friday morning. Judge Mark C. Gildea instructs the jury about the specific laws that apply to the case before they enter into deliberations to reach a verdict.
Frank Corso, one of Hession’s two defense attorneys, declined to comment while leaving the courthouse.
Testimony for the defense
On Thursday, four witnesses who all worked at the church in various roles each testified for the defense that they never saw Hession sexually abuse or inappropriately interact with the accuser.
“Absolutely not,” said John Murray, a Catholic priest on Nantucket who was in residence at Our Lady of Victory while chaplain at Cape Cod Hospital from 2003 to 2005, when asked if his friendship with Hession would interfere with his duty to report any improper behavior.
Prosecutor cross-examines witnesses
Cape and Islands Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Halprin Isaacs pointed out some of the witnesses did not know the accuser or did not see Hession in the church often due to conflicting schedules.
For instance, Isaacs said Dariusz Kalinowski, who was a priest at the church from 2005 to 2007, did not know the accuser, was unaware the accuser worked at the church, and was not interviewed by police.
“You don’t really have anything to say, no offense,” said Isaacs to Kalinowski.
On Tuesday, the accuser, a now 36-year-old man, took the stand to testify that Hession had sexually abused him as a young boy. The man also testified that Hession had raped him, saying he received and performed oral sex without consent.
The Times does not identify an accuser unless that person has given permission to be identified.
As the prosecution laid out its case, Isaacs also called the accuser’s ex-wife, grandmother, and Barnstable Police Detective Meaghan Cunningham to the stand.
Who is Mark Hession?
Hession was ordained in 1984. In 2009, he delivered the homily at the funeral for U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in Boston.
Hession served at 12 different institutions in the Cape Cod and Fall River areas.
On the Cape, besides Our Lady of Victory, Hession served at Our Lady of the Assumption in Osterville; St. Joan of Arc church in Orleans; and St. Patrick church in Falmouth, according to the Diocese of Fall River.
Off-Cape, he served at St. Patrick Parish in Wareham; Holy Name Church and Holy Rosary Chapel, both in Fall River; St. Mary’s Parish in New Bedford; Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River; St. Joseph Church in Taunton; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Seekonk; and Holy Family parish in East Taunton.
He has been suspended from “active priestly ministry” by the Diocese of Fall River since 2019. That move came after parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Seekonk complained that he had sent inappropriate communications, according to previous reporting by the Times.
The diocese said then in a statement that Hession was placed on leave “because of conduct inconsistent with standards of ministerial behavior and in direct violation of the Code of Conduct for priests.”
Zane Razzaq writes about housing and real estate. Reach her at zrazzaq@capecodonline.com. Follow her on X @zanerazz.