Assignment Record– Rev. James Hutchinson
Summary of Case: Hutchinson was accused in 2002 of abusing at least one 9-year-old boy in 1960 at St. Thomas More Parish in Braintree MA. He also had the reputation of asking very intimate questions during confession and of using the confessional to learn peoples' weaknesses.
Ordained: 1958
Died: 1979
| Start | Stop | Assignment | Town/Accusations | State | Position | Notes |
1958 Boston archbishop was Richard James Cushing (1944-1970). |
1967 | St. Thomas More | Braintree • Accused in 2002 of having sexually abused a 9-year-old boy in 1960, while at this parish. He is also said to have asked inappropriately intimate questions of those coming to him for confession. (Boston Herald |
MA | 3/4 , 2/3, 3/3 | Parish had a school with 78-211 boys and 70-212 girls.
The boy said to have been abused died in 1994. Hutchinson's family apologized in 2002 to the boy's family. (Boston Herald |
1967 Cushing was succeeded by Humberto Sousa Medeiros (1970-1983). |
1979 | St. Jude's | Waltham | MA | 2/3 | Parish had a school with 140-199 students.
Hutchinson died in 1979. |
Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, (1959-1979)
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.
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This assignment record collates Hutchinson's career history as it is represented
in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the
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This assignment record was last updated on Nov. 7, 2010.