BishopAccountability.org
	Allegations against Priest Called 'Gossip' By Sue Reinert Patriot Ledger (Quincy, MA) February 12, 2003 The Rev. Robert Fay says sexual abuse allegations against him are "nothing but innuendo and insidious gossip," his lawyer says. Brockton lawyer Joseph F. Krowski responded yesterday to internal church documents that were released Monday. The records included a lawsuit filed against the Rev. Fay, a Stoughton native, accusing him of molesting a Melrose teenager in the 1970s at a New Hampshire home. The suit asserts that the priest gave alcohol and marijuana to the teen and other youths. The Rev. Fay was assigned to Incarnation Church in Melrose at the time. He served at St. Francis Xavier Cabrini Church in Scituate for three months after he was ordained in 1967. Now on health leave for a heart condition, the Rev. Fay, 61, works as a real estate broker in Brockton, Krowski said. He said the Rev. Fay has denied the allegations in the lawsuit and filed a counterclaim against the plaintiff for "abuse of process," or misuse of the court. "Father Fay has done nothing to warrant the church's attitude toward him," Krowski said. "He was a good priest." "He's got a strong personality. Priests sometimes rub people the wrong way," Krowski said. The documents released Monday don't contain any evidence of wrongdoing, just "gossip," the lawyer said. The Rev. Fay has battled the Archdiocese of Boston over his benefits, Krowski said. Two years ago the church discontinued his $900 monthly stipend, the lawyer said. The Rev. Fay continues to receive health insurance from the archdiocese, he said.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.