Paulist Fathers Identify 3 Priests Accused of Sexual Abuse of Minors

By Danny McDonald
Boston Globe
December 5, 2018

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/12/04/paulist-fathers-identify-priests-accused-sexual-abuse-minors/f4UTQq0F78sdLCIU5vZ4wM/story.html

The Catholic religious order that runs the Paulist Center in Boston said Tuesday that credible allegations of sexual abuse involving minors have been made against three priests who once lived or ministered in the city in years past.

The allegations were made against the Rev. Thomas Dove, the Rev. Robert Michele and the late Rev. Frank M. Sweeney, and involve two females and one male, according to an e-mail sent Tuesday evening by the director of the Paulist Center.

“To the Paulists’ knowledge, these are the only Paulists ever stationed or living in Boston who have had credible allegations raised against them,” the Rev. Michael McGarry wrote in the e-mail sent to members of the Paulist Center community.

The allegation against Dove, now 84, involved a minor female at the Catholic Information Center in Los Angeles, and has only recently “been established and reported to the authorities,” according to the e-mail. He served in LA from 1965 to 1974, the e-mail said.

Dove served in Boston at the Park Street center for one year immediately after he was ordained, from 1961 to 1962, said McGarry. He currently lives at the Paulist House in San Francisco.

In September, a credible and substantiated allegation involving a minor female was made against Michele when he was an associate pastor at a church in Oregon more than 40 years ago, according to McGarry.