FALL RIVER (MA)
Cape Cod Times [Hyannis MA]
February 1, 2025
By Zane Razzaq
- Former Cape Cod priest Mark Hession’s retrial on a charge of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 has been delayed.
- Hession was found not guilty of two counts of rape in June, but the jury deadlocked on the assault charge.
A former Cape Cod priest facing an assault charge is set to next appear in Barnstable Superior Court in March.
In June, a jury found Mark Hession not guilty of two counts of rape alleged to have happened between 2005 and 2008. But the jury deadlocked on one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, alleged to have happened in 2002.
A second trial on that charge was expected to begin on Feb. 10, but that date has now been vacated and is no longer on the court calendar. The defense needed time to review additional discovery, according to the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s office.
A new trial date could be scheduled during the next status conference on March 20, according to the court clerk’s office.
Hession, who served as the parish priest of Our Lady of Victory in Centerville from 2000 to 2014, pleaded not guilty to all charges stemming from his January 2021 indictment. During the first trial, which began in June, a 36-year-old man testified that he was sexually abused by Hession as a child while working on a science class project at the church.
Hession was ordained in 1984 and served at 12 different institutions in the Cape Cod and Fall River areas. In 2009, he delivered the homily at the funeral for U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, in Boston.
He has been listed on a “publicly accused” list by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River since 2021. This list includes religious leaders publicly named in media reports and by advocacy groups for alleged sexual abuse of minors.
Hession has been on leave from active ministry since 2019 due to conduct deemed inconsistent with priestly standards, following complaints of inappropriate communications by parishioners at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Seekonk.