Fr. Jerome Kucan

Croatian Franciscan. Also called John Kucon. Died 12/31/2010. Name included on the Erie Diocese’s list 4/6/2018. Included on the Harrisburg Diocese’s 8/1/2018 list. Included in the 8/14/2018 PA Grand Jury Report, which notes a report to the Diocese from a 39-year-old man in 3/2005 that Kucan sexually abused him from the age of 8 at St. Anthony’s Croatian Church in Sharon. Allegedly Kucan performed oral sex on the boy, and another religious brother was sometimes present and would do the same thing. The Diocese informed the Order. Removed from ministry. Another report to the Diocese from a woman in 2007 of abuse of her husband when he was an altar boy in the mid-1950s at St. Anthony’s. The woman said Kucan also abused her husband’s cousin, who died by suicide in 1993. She said she heard other men abused by Kucan also died by suicide. Included in 10/2022 on the Chicago Archdiocese’s list of credibly accused. Included in the 5/23/2023 IL Attorney General’s Report.