Former Stoneham Priest's Alleged Victim Apart of Boston Archdiocese Settlement

By Joe Lipovich
Patch
March 30, 2016

http://patch.com/massachusetts/stoneham/former-stoneham-priests-alleged-victim-apart-boston-archdiocese-settlement-0

The Archdiocese of Boston has settled for several hundred thousand dollars and counseling services for seven people who said they were sexually abused by priests, one of whom alleged sexual abuse from a former Stoneham priest, according to multiple reports including the Boston Globe.

A victim of the now-defrocked Rev. Richard Coughlin reached settlement with the Archdiocese, who served in both Stoneham and Lynn from 1953 to 1965. Wicked Local Stoneham reports that Coughlin was affiliated with St. Patrick's Church in Stoneham at the time of the abuse.

The agreements came with no admission of liability.

“The monetary settlement allows the survivor to validate their claim and heal," attorney Mitchell Garabedian told Patch. "By coming forward survivors empower themselves and other survivors to make the world a safer place for the children."

Garabedian also reached a settlement involving a brother who was assigned to the Northshore Mall in Peabody after being accused of abuse in Los Angeles.

The 10 settlements with Massachusetts ties totaled upward of $700,000, according to the Boston Globe.

Garabedian reached six additional settlements with religious orders across the country.

The cases spanned several decades, from the 1930s to the 1980s, he told the Globe.

The Catholic Church abuse scandal was recently the subject the Academy Award-winning 'Spotlight', which focused on the investigative Globe team that publicized the cover-up.

One of the alleged victims was a 90-year-old man who had pursued a claim in 2014. The man said he was abused by Rev. James MacGuinness from 1938-40 at St. John’s Church in Roxbury, according to the Globe.