BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
January 10, 2025
By Travis Andersen and Danny McDonald
A former Catholic chaplain at Brandeis University who gained prominencewhen he called for Cardinal Bernard Law’s resignation two decades ago during the clergy abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese is being sued for the alleged sexual assault of a Brandeis student in a New York hotel room in December 2014, records show.
The Rev. Walter H. Cuenin, a retired priest living in Virginia, allegedly assaulted the 20-year-old student after the pair had traveled to Manhattan to attend a performance of the New York Philharmonic, according to a civil lawsuit the man’s lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, filed last week in New York Supreme Court.
Cuenin, 79, said in a brief phone interview last week that he “did not abuse” the student, nor did he have any sort of sexual contact with him.
“No contact at all,” said Cuenin, who said he lives at a nursing home in Virginia Beach and uses a wheelchair. “I did not abuse anybody. I took a student to New York. We went to a concert.”
The lawsuit, however, alleges that a criminal assault occurred after the show.
Following the performance, the men went to their hotel room, which had only one bed, the lawsuit stated. The younger man told Cuenin he would sleep on the floor so the priest could use the bed, and Cuenin proceeded to drink alcohol in front of him and disclosed “using Viagra to watch pornography,” the lawsuit said.
Cuenin “sexually abused, sexually assaulted, and made sexual contact” with the student without his consent, the suit alleged.
“As a direct result of Father Cuenin’s conduct described herein, Plaintiff suffered and will continue to suffer great pain of mind and body, severe and permanent emotional distress, and physical manifestations of emotional distress,” the suit said. “Plaintiff was prevented from obtaining the full enjoyment of life; has incurred and will continue to incur expenses for medical and psychological treatment, therapy, and counseling; and has incurred and will continue to incur loss of income and/or loss of earning capacity.”
While pastor of Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton in 2002, Cuenin was part of a group of priests in the archdiocese who wrote a letter to Law calling on him to resign, on the grounds that they and parishioners had “lost confidence in you as their spiritual leader.” Law died in 2017.
Law had been criticized by abuse victims in Bostonas reports from the Globe Spotlight team showed that church officials had knowingly moved pedophile priests from parish to parish, allowing them to prey on vulnerable children.
“It was so contrary to the way we were trained,” Cuenin said of writing the letter in 2014. “It was very, very painful.”
Four days after the delivery of the letter, Law resigned.
“It’s unfortunate that Father Cuenin didn’t look in the mirror when he was demanding Cardinal Law resign,” Garabedian, who has represented scores of victims of clergy sex abuse, said in a brief phone interview last week.
According to Garabedian, Cuenin was stationed in parishes throughout the eastern half of Massachusetts during his career, which included stops in North Andover, Lexington, and Marlborough, as well as in Waltham, where for years he served as a campus chaplain for Brandeis University.
Brandeis did not immediately respond to a request for comment last week. The Archdiocese of Boston, which is not named in the lawsuit, does not comment on pending litigation, according to a spokesperson.
Locally, he is best known for clashing with Law as the clergy sex abuse crisis rocked the foundations of the Catholic Church. In 2002, Law, attempting to assert his authority even as criticism of his conduct rose to fever pitch, summarily banned all church agencies from holding meetings at Cuenin’s Newton parish.
In addition to his criticism of Law’s handling of the sex abuse crisis, Cuenin openly questioned the church’s policies on gay people and women. He once told the Globe that his parish welcomes “people who are very devout Catholics and people who are hanging on by their fingernails.” In the fall of 2002, Cuenin was profiled in The New Yorker, giving him a national platform.
Cuenin’s stances won him popularity locally. When he was forced to resign from the Newton parish in 2005, it had thousands of worshippers and was considered one of the most vibrant parishes in the archdiocese.
His resignation in Newton was controversial, with the archdiocese accusing him of financial improprieties that violated several policies. Specifically, the archdiocese alleged he received a $500 monthly stipend for the performance of baptisms, weddings, and funerals, and a leased Honda Accord he shared with visiting priests.
But a report written by the parish’s Finance Council said his ouster “lacked due process.”
“And that leaves its motives open to question,” the report said.
Following an emotional farewell service, more than 1,000 parishioners, fellow priests, and other supporters of Cuenin marched three miles to the archdiocese headquarters to protest his departure.
Jeremiah Manion of Globe staff contributed to this report. Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Danny McDonald can be reached at daniel.mcdonald@globe.com. Follow him @Danny__McDonald.