BERGEN (NJ)
Bergen Record
Dec. 4, 2019
By Abbott Koloff
At least two new accusers came forward this week to file sex abuse lawsuits naming a now-defrocked Paterson Diocese priest, James T. Hanley, who has admitted to abusing children and was at the center of the 2002 Catholic Church scandal in New Jersey related to an alleged cover-up of sex abuse by some bishops.
One man said in court papers that he was abused by Hanley and two other priests — a former assistant to Hanley at a Mendham church decades ago and a former Catholic school administrator who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two boys more than 25 years ago.
Another said Hanley abused him as a minor at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Pequannock in the late 1960s.
The accusations were among dozens of lawsuits filed since Sunday when a state law took effect that gives people more time to file civil complaints alleging sex abuse.
Hanley has admitted in prior court papers to abusing at least a dozen children, many of them at St. Joseph’s parish in Mendham. Numerous men who attended St. Joseph’s as children gathered in 2002 amid a growing church scandal for a meeting to discuss being abused by Hanley. The priest also was the central figure in a lawsuit that led to a $5 million settlement in 2005.
One of the new Hanley accusers alleged that the priest sexually abused him when he was between 11 and 13 years old, starting in 1974 when he attended St. Joseph’s parish. He is not identified in court papers.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.