Rev. Charles G. Coyle, S.J. -Assignment

Assignment Record– Rev. Charles G. "Charley" Coyle, S.J.

Summary of case: A New Orleans native, Charles G. Coyle was ordained a Jesuit priest of the Maryland Province in 1965. He went on to work in Boston MA, Houston TX, Mobile AL, and New Orleans LA. Coyle was deeply involved with youth as an educator, chaplain and and counselor. In April 2002 he was suspended from ministry after an accusation emerged that he had sexually abused a boy from a MA public high school where he was a guidance counselor in the early 1970s. This accuser said that another boy from his school lived with Coyle and later committed suicide. In 2003 Coyle was again accused, this time of sexually abusing a boy in the mid-1960s, beginning when the boy was 15 years-old and Coyle was a seminarian in Baltimore. He is last known to have been living in New Orleans. Coyle died July 1, 2015.

Ordained: 1965
Died: July 1, 2015

Start	Stop	Assignment	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
early 1960s New Orleans archbishop was Joseph Francis Rummel (1935-1964). He was succeeded by John Patrick Cody (1964-1965).		Jesuit High School	New Orleans	LA	teacher; seminarian
1965 Baltimore archbishop was Lawrence Joseph Shehan (1961-1974).	1967	Woodstock College	Woodstock • Coyle was accused in a 2003 lawsuit of the sexual abuse of a boy beginning in the mid-1960s when the boy was15 years-old and Coyle was a seminarian at Woodstock. His accuser said his last "sexual encounter" with Coyle was in 1973, in Massachusetts.	MD		This was a Jesuit seminary.
1967 Boston archbishop was Humberto Sousa Medeiros (1970-1983).	1969	Boston College	Newton	MA	graduate studies in Counseling Psychology
1969	1972	Newton South High School	Newton • Coyle was accused of molesting a Newton South High School student in the early 1970s. • A second Newton South student was said to have lived with Coyle and later committed suicide.	MA	guidance counselor	Coyle is indexed in the Directories as at 855 Centre St. in Newton, but he is not listed in the Boston archdiocesan pages.
1969		City of Newton Drug Education	Newton	MA	Coordinator, appointed in 1969
1969		College of the Sacred Heart	Newton	MA	Chaplain
1971		Project Concern	Newton	MA	Founder and Director	This was a school program for alienated youth.
1973		Mayor's Health Advisory Commission	Newton	MA	member	Per his obituary, Coyle became Special Counsel and speechwriter for Newton Mayor Ted Mann.
1973		Newton Youth Commission	Newton	MA	Chairman
1971	1977		Newton (Waban)	MA		Coyle is indexed in the Directories as at 30 Coyne Rd., Waban, MA, but is not listed in the Boston archdiocesan pages. Waban is a Newton neighborhood.
1975		Freeport Inc.			board member	This was a residential youth center.
1977 Galveston-Houston bishop was John Louis Morkovsky (1975-1984).	1978	Strake Jesuit Preparatory, Inc.	Houston	TX	Listed among 16 priests.	School had 598 students, all male.
1978 Mobile bishop was John Lawrence May (1969-1980).	1979	Spring Hill College	Mobile	AL		Springhill was a Jesuit coed college, with 904 students.
1979	1980			?		Coyle is not indexed in the 1980 Directory.
1980 New Orleans archbishop was Philip Matthew Hannan (1965-1988).	1982	St. Louise De Marillac	Arabi	LA	2/2	St. Louise De Marillac had a school with 600 students.
1982	1983	St. Andrew the Apostle	New Orleans	LA	3/3	St. Andrew's had a school with 806 students.
1983	1985	Louisiana Center of Jesus the Lord	New Orleans	LA	2/2	The Center is described on its website in 2007 as "a Catholic Charismatic Church and a retreat and meeting center."
1985	1988?	St. Cecilia's	New Orleans	LA	2/2, 2/3	St. Cecilia's had a school with 254-232 students.
mid-1980s		Holy Cross High School	New Orleans	LA	chaplain	This assignment is per news reports.
mid-1980s		Tulane University	New Orleans	LA	chaplain	This assignment is per news reports.
1988	1991					Coyle is not indexed in the 1989-1991 Directories.
1991 Atlanta archbishop was James Patterson Lyke, o.f.m. (1991-1992).	1995	Ignatius House	Atlanta	GA		Ignatius House was a retreat house.
1995 Fort Worth bishop was Joseph Patrick Delaney (1981-2005).	1998	Montserrat Jesuit Retreat House	Lake Dallas	TX	4/5 Third of three associate directors.	Coyle is not indexed beyond the 1998 Directory.
New Orleans archbishop was Francis Bible Schulte (1988-2002), followed by Alfred Clifton Hughes (2002-2009). Gregory Michael Aymond replaced Hughes (2009-).	2002		New Orleans	LA	"personal evangelization,"fill- in priest, preached at local retreats or missions	Coyle was quietly suspended from ministry by New Orleans archbishop Hughes on April 4, 2002, after the Jesuits informed him that Coyle was accused of the sexual abuse of a high school student in Newton MA in the early 1970s. The suspension wasn't announced until later in the month when Coyle's accuser filed suit. Per 2002 news reports, Coyle was living in a condo in an upscale area of New Orleans. A new allegation surfaced in 2003 that Coyle sexually abused a minor while a seminarian in Baltimore.

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: Kenedy & Sons, 1965-1998).

• 4 Lawsuits Filed Alleging Abuse by Jesuit Priests Charges Involve Events from '70s, By Michael Rezendes and Stephen Kurkjian, Boston Globe, April 19, 2002
• Hughes Discloses Suspension of Priest, Jesuit Accused of Molesting Youth in Massachusetts 30 Years Ago, By Bruce Nolan,
The Times-Picayune [New Orleans, LA], April 20, 2002
• Redemptorist Priest Accused of Sex Abuse in Lafayette, Hughes Suspends Cleric, Who Now Works in N.O., By Gwen Filosa,
The Times-Picayune [New Orleans, LA], April 28, 2002
• The Accused, USA Today, November 11, 2002
• Ousted Priest Faces Another Accuser Complainant, Abuse Started in the 1960s, By Bruce Nolan, The Times-Picayune [New Orleans, LA], November 11, 2003
• The Missing Names from Cardinal O’Malley’s List of Accused Clerics, The Boston Globe, November 20, 2011
• Charles G. Coyle, III, S.J. Obituary, New Orleans Advocate, July 11, 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 Coyle''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 October 23, 2015.