Rev. John T. Sullivan-Assignment

Assignment Record– Rev. John Thomas Sullivan

Summary of Case: John Thomas Sullivan was ordained for the Manchester NH diocese in 1942. By 1949 he had impregnated a teenage girl, arranging for an illegal abortion. The girl was hospitalized and the pregnancy continued. He was suspended in 1952 due to "improper advances toward young women." He was also accused of stalking a nursing student. Sullivan was suspended by the diocese again in 1956, responsible for another pregnancy and an abortion. He was sent to the Servants of the Paraclete's Via Coeli in Jemez Springs NM for treatment.

Sullvan was allowed to serve briefly in the Gallup diocese, in Winslow AZ in the mid-1950s. In 1958 he was assigned to the Diocese of Grand Rapids MI, where he worked in several parishes. By 2002 six women had alleged sexual abuse by Sullivan in Grand Rapids when they were girls; three of them were sisters, ages 7-12. After a few years in MI, Sullivan was assigned to parishes in WI, TX, and NM, then ministered again in AZ, in the Gallup and Phoenix dioceses, from 1960 to 1980.

In 1981 Sullivan retired, after pleading no contest to attempted sexual abuse of a girl from St. Margaret Mary's in Bullhead City AZ, where he was pastor. Three other girls from that parish are known to have alleged abuse by Sullivan. He returned to NH where he was stripped of his priestly faculties in 1983 for kissing a 13-year-old girl and making unwanted advances on another teen girl. Sullivan relocated again to AZ, then moved to an assisted living center in San Diego CA in 1988. He died September 19, 1999.

Ordained: 1942
Died: 1999

Start	Stop	Assignment	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1942 Manchester bishop was John Bertram Peterson (1932-1944)	1943	St. John the Baptist	Westville	NH
1942	1944	St. Mary's	Dover	NH
1944 Peterson was replaced as bishop by Matthew Francis Brady (1944-1959)	1945	St. Thomas Aquinas	Derry	NH
1945	1946	St. Patrick's	Nashua	NH
1946	1949	St. Mary's	Claremont • In 1949 Sullivan impregnated a teenage girl and arranged for her to have an abortion. The girl was hospitalized and the pregnancy was not ended. (Washington Post April 22, 2003)	NH
1949	1952	St. Kieran	Berlin • Suspended June 16, 1952 due to "improper advances toward young women" (per personnel file). He was accused of stalking a nursing student, and he attempted suicide. (Washington Post April 22, 2003)	NH
1952	1956	Holy Angels	Westville • Suspended July 20, 1956 (per documents released by NH Attorney General). Sullivan was responsible for another pregnancy and illegal abortion.	NH
1956	1958	Absent on Leave				Sullivan was sent to Via Coeli in Jemez Springs NM, run by The Servants of the Paraclete. This was a treatment facility for priests with mental health issues, including "sexual disorders". The center's founder, Rev. Gerald Fitzgerald, wrote to Bishop Brady in 1957 to say, in essence, that those who molest children cannot change, that they should not be sent to new dioceses because they would continue to offend, and that "we are amazed to find how often a man who would be behind bars if he were not a priest is entrusted with the cura animarum." Bishop Brady then wrote to at least 15 other bishops, whom Sullivan had asked to allow him to work in their dioceses, warning them of his history and telling them he did not recommend Sullivan. (Washington Post April 22, 2003)
mid 1950s Gallup bishop was Bernard Theodore Espelage, O.F.M. (1940-1969)			Winslow	AZ		Per news reports, served here briefly. (The Arizona Republic [Phoenix AZ] May 4, 2003)
1958 Grand Rapids bishop was Allen James Babcock (1954-1969)	1960	Holy Spirit	Grand Rapids • Three sisters accused Sullivan in 1993 of having sexually abused them over five years, beginning when they were ages 7-12, in Grand Rapids. They were Holy Spirit parishioners. He befriended their parents and abused them on visits even after he had left the diocese. The bishop knew of previous allegations against Sullivan when he accepted him as a priest in the diocese. (Grand Rapid Press (Michigan) April 6, 2002) • Three more women came forward in 2002 to report they had been sexually abused by Sullivan as girls during his time in Grand Rapids. (Grand Rapid Press [Michigan] April 20, 2002)	MI
		St. Jude's	Grand Rapids	MI
		St. Patrick's	Grand Haven	MI
				WI		Served in Wisconsin for a time after leaving Michigan, per news reports. (Grand Rapid Press (Michigan) June 8, 2003)
				TX		Served in Texas for a time after leaving Michigan, per news reports. (Grand Rapid Press (Michigan) June 8, 2003)
				NM		Served in New Mexico for a time after leaving Michigan, per news reports. (Grand Rapid Press (Michigan) June 8, 2003)
1960 Gallup diocese	1961	St. Joseph's	Winslow	AZ		The Directories index Sullivan as Absent on Sick Leave Winslow AZ 1960-1963.
1960	1962	Madre de Dios	Winslow	AZ
		Immaculate Conception	Cottonwood	AZ
1962	1964	St. Francis Mission-Peach Springs Stations-Pica, Nelson, Truxton, Crozier, Hyde Park	Seligman	AZ	1/1 Administrator
1964	1965	St. Cecilia's Mission-Clemenceau	Clarkdale	AZ	1/1	Sullivan was incardinated into the Gallup diocese Jan. 19,1965.
1965	1968	St. Mary's Mission-Davis Dam Stations-Sandy, Hackberry, Valentine, Yucca, Artillery Peaks, Chloride, Wickieup, Truxton, Oatman, Lake Havasu, Peach Springs, Nelson.	Kingman	AZ	1/3 Pastor	St. Mary's had a school with 131-143 students.
1968 Phoenix bishop was Edward Anthony McCarthy (1969-1976)	1970	St. Francis Stations-Pica, Nelson, Truxton, Crozier, Hyde Park, Dungantown	Seligman	AZ	1/1	The Phoenix diocese was formed in 1969, encompassing some of what was previously the Gallup diocese.
1970	1974	Our Lady of the Lake	Havasu City	AZ	1/1
		St. John Vianney	Goodyear	AZ
1974 McCarthy was replaced as bishop by James Steven Rausch (1977-1981)	1980	St. Margaret Mary	Bullhead City • Pleaded no contest to attempted sexual abuse of a girl. She was one of four girls from this parish who accused Sullivan of sexual abuse. (The Arizona Republic [Phoenix AZ] May 4, 2003 )	AZ	1/1
1980	1984		• Per news reports, Sullivan retired in 1981 and returned to NH. In 1983 he was "stripped of his priestly faculties" for kissing a 13-year-old girl and "making unwanted advances" on another teen girl. (The Arizona Republic [Phoenix AZ] May 4, 2003 )	NH		Sullivan is not indexed in the 1981, 1982, 1983, or 1984 Directories.
1984	1999	Retired		NH, AZ, CA		The 1985 and 1986 Directories show a Concord NH P.O. Box, the 1987 and 1988 Directories show him to be at 400 E. Monroe, Phoenix (a 2009 google search shows this to be a Catholic Church at AZ State Univ. West), the 1989-1998 Directories list Sullivan at Nazareth House Retirement Home in San Diego CA, and the 1999 Directory lists him at The Cloisters in San Diego, which was an assisted living facility. Sullivan died Sept. 19, 1999.

Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: Kenedy & Sons, 1943-2000).

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.