Assignment Record– Rev. Paul Madden

Summary of Case: Paul Madden was ordained a priest of the Natchez-Jackson MS diocese in 1970. He assisted at parishes in Ocean Spring, Jackson, Natchez and Meadville, before pastoring in Crystal Springs, Hazelhurst, Forest, Paulding and Meridian. He also did stints at the V.A., at a junior college and at a state hospital. He spent two years in Mexico in the late 1970s, and worked in Peru as a member of the Society of St. James missionary from at least the early 1990s through 2002. Madden was accused in a 2002 lawsuit of having sexually abused a 13-year-old boy in 1973 during a trip the two took two Ireland. Despite acknowledging the abuse, Madden was allowed to stay in ministry. In 2003 the bishop of Peru's Chimbote diocese accepted Madden as one of his priests.

Ordained: 1970

  

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Start Stop Assignment Town/Accusations State/Country Position Notes

1970

Natchez-Jackson bishop was Joseph Bernard Brunini (1967-1984).

 1972 St. Alphonsus

Ocean Spring

 MS 3/4

St. Alphonsus had a school with 325-310 students.

1972

 1974 Holy Family

Jackson

• Accused in a lawsuit filed in 2002 of the sexual abuse of a 13-year-old boy in 1973, during a trip to Ireland.

MS 2/2 Holy Family had a school with 272-263 students.

1972

 1974 Veteran's Administration   MS   This was a station of Holy Family in Jackson.
1974 1977 Our Lady of Sorrows Cathedral Natchez MS 3/3 Our Lady of Sorrows Cathedral had a school with 244-478 students.
1974 1977 St. Ann's Meadville MS   This was a mission of Our Lady of Sorrows Cathedral in Natchez.
1977 1979 On Duty Outside Diocese Saltillo Mexico    

1979

Diocese's name was changed to "Jackson" June 6, 1977.

1983 St. John's Crystal Springs MS 1/1 Administrator 1979-1980  
1979 1983 St. Martin's Hazelhurst MS   This was a mission of St. John's in Crystal Springs.

1983

Brunini was succeeded as Jackson bishop by William Russell Houck (1984-2003).

 1989 On Duty Outside the Diocese       The Directory does not indicate where Madden was assigned.
1989 1990 St. Michael's Paulding MS 1/1  
1989 1990 St. Michael's Forest MS 1/1  
    St. Ann's Newton MS   This was a mission of St. Michael's in Forest.
1989 1990 East Central Junior College Decatur MS    
1990 1991 On Duty Outside the Diocese       The Directory does not indicate where Madden was assigned.
1991 1993 Foreign Missions/Society of St. James the Apostle   Peru    

1993

Jackson diocese

 1994 St. Patrick's Meridian MS 1/2 St. Patrick's had a school with 122 students.
1993 1994 Good Shepherd Quitman MS   This was a mission of St. Patrick's in Meridian.
1993 1994 Meridian East State Hospital Meridian MS    

1993

 

 2002 Foreign Missions/Society of St. James the Apostle   Peru   Madden is not indexed beyond the 2002 Directory.

2002

Chimbote bishop was Luis Armando Bambarén Gastelumendi, S.J. (1978-2004), followed by Ángel Francisco Simón Piorno (2004-).

       Peru   He was accepted by the Chimbote diocese in 2003, despite having admitted to the 1973 sexual abuse of a 13-year-old boy. His victim received a $50,000 settlement.

 

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1971-2002)

• Alleged Abuse Victims File $27 Million Suit against Jackson Diocese, Associated Press State & Local Wire, July 18, 2002
• Crisis in the Church /Legal Fight, Law Named in Suit Alleging Abuse by Two Miss. Priests, By Stephen Kurkjian, Boston Globe, July 18, 2002
• Too Much Tolerance?, By Brendan M. Case, Brooks Egerton, and Reese Dunklin, Dallas Morning News, March 16, 2005
• Legal Limitations Still to Be Settled in Jackson Catholic Diocese Priest Abuse Case, Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 8, 2005
• Following the Trail of Sexual Abuse in the Us...Tribune, February 7, 2010
• South America Has Become a Safe Haven for the Catholic Church’s Alleged Child Molesters, By Will Carless, Global Post, September 17, 2015

 

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Madden's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on September 22, 2015.