Rev. Victor Phelan, w.f.-Assignment Record

Assignment Record – Rev. Victor Phelan, w.f, or m.afr.

Summary of Case: A priest of the African Foreign Missions, or "White Fathers" ordained in 1971, Phelan's ministry took him from Ghana in West Africa to the archdioceses of Chicago IL, Newark NJ and Los Angeles, CA. His whereabouts beyond 1992 are unknown. Phelan was accused of child sexual abuse in a lawsuit settled in May 2013.

Ordained: 1971

Start	Stop	Parish/Assignment	Town/Accusations	State/Country	Position	Notes
1971	1976	Bawku Catholic Mission	Bawku	Ghana, West Africa		The earlier Directories show Phelan's name with the suffix, w.f. Later Directories use m.afr.
1976 Chicago archbishop was John Patrick Cody (1965-1982).	1978		Chicago	IL
1978 Newark archbishop was Peter Leo Gerety (1974-1986).	1979	St. Mary's	Plainfield	NJ	St. Mary's had a school with 441 students. Phelan is indexed in the 1979 Directory as at this assignment, but he is not listed as there in the Newark archdiocesan pages.
1979	1989			Africa
1990 Chicago archbishop was Joseph Louis Bernardin (1982-1996).	1991	Missionaries of Africa	Chicago	IL		The 1991 Directory indexes Phelan twice: in Chicago with an ordination year of 1970, and Los Angeles with an ordination year of 1971.
1989 Los Angeles archbishop was Roger Michael Mahony (1985-2011).	1992	Missionaries of Africa	Los Angeles	CA	Superior	Phelan is not indexed beyond the 1992 Directory.

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1972-1992)

• Boston Lawyer Clergy Sex Abuse Victims Releases New List of Alleged Abusers, By Jay Lindsay, The Republic, September 4, 2013
• Two More NJ Predator Priests “outed”, SNAP, September 6, 2013

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 Phelan'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 Sept. 17, 2013.