Rev. Sydney Bayers-Assignment

Assignment Record– Rev. Sydney H. Bayers

Summary of Case: Sydney Bayers was ordained for the Archdiocese of Boston in 1937. He was assigned to parishes in East Boston, Brookline, Brockton, Bellingham and Cambridge before going on sick leave in 1970. He died in 1979. Bayers was accused by three sisters in 1994 of having abused them when they were young girls in the 1970s, while their father was terminally ill. Another accusation surfaced in 1996 that Bayers sexually and physically abused a young boy during the 1950s when the boy's father was ill; Bayers is said to have "practically lived with" the family after the father's death in 1960.

Ordained: 1937
Died: March 23, 1979

Start	Stop	Assignment	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1937 Boston archbishop was William Henry O'Connell (1907-1944), replaced by Richard James Cushing (1944-1970).	1950	Most Holy Redeemer	East Boston	MA	3/3 , 3/4	Most Holy Redeemer had a school with 130-220 boys and 306-131 girls. The parish was affiliated with Fitton High School beginning in 1940. It had 179-240 students, all girls.
1950	1952	St. Lawrence's	Brookline	MA	2/3, 2/4
1953	1965	St. Edward's	Brockton • A man reported to the Boston archdiocese in 1996 that he had been sexually and physically abused by Bayers for years, when he was a child. Bayers visited often when the boy's father was ill. After the father died in 1960, Bayers "practically lived with" the family, and Bayers began to sexually abuse the boy.	MA	3/4, 2/4	St. Edward's had a school with 38-321 boys and 40-285 girls.
1965	1968	St. Brendan's	Bellingham	MA	1/1
1968 Cushing was replaced by Humberto Sousa Medeiros (1970-1983).	1970	Blessed Sacrament	Cambridge	MA	1/3	Blessed Sacrament had a school with 151-150 boys and 167-148 girls.
1970	1976	Sick Leave	• In 1994 three sisters reported to the archdiocese that Bayers sexually abused them in the 1970s, when they were young girls, and their father was dying.
1976	1979	Retired				Bayers died March 23, 1979.

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: Kenedy & Sons, 1938-1980).
• Docs produced by Boston Archdiocese: Notes re 1994 Meeting with Mother & Sisters
• Docs produced by Boston Archdiocese: Memo in 1996 on Meeting with Brother
• Docs produced by Boston Archdiocese: Letter from Brother in 2002
• Boston Archdiocese Posts Sex-Abuse Database Online, By Joan Frawley Desmond, National Catholic Register, August 25, 2011

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 & 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 Bayers' 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 August 31, 2015.