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Priests named in Pennsylvania abuse report have Salesianum, Archmere ties
By Xerxes Wilson
[with video] There are Delaware ties to three priests named in a sprawling Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing sexual abuse by hundreds of clergymen over 70 years. At least two held positions at Salesianum School in Wilmington and another was employed at Archmere Academy in Claymont. Another is said to have molested adolescent brothers on a trip to Rehoboth Beach. The report covers abuse and subsequent cover-ups within six Pennsylvania Catholic dioceses. The abuse detailed about priests with local ties appears to have occurred outside their duties at Delaware schools though at least one of the priests was previously sued for sex abuse at Salesianum. The late Father John McDevitt taught at Sallies in the 1980s. The grand jury report states that a man reported that he had kissed him in a confessional at a Pennsylvania High School that McDevitt taught at before his time at Salesianum. After decades of quiet suffering, Delaware priest abuse victim tells her story The grand jury report does not indicate when that abuse was reported to authorities, only that the victim was 50 in 2012. McDevitt was named in a civil lawsuit filed in 2009 that claimed he abused a junior at Sallies in the 1980s. Another lawsuit against McDevitt claimed abuse at a subsequent position at a Philadelphia Catholic school. In 2012, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales Wilmington-Philadelphia, the Catholic religious order that runs Salesianum, announced settlements with some 40 victims of sexual abuse totaling more than $25 million. McDevitt was one of the abusers named when the settlement was announced. He died in 1999. Another priest named in the grand jury report worked at Sallies before abuse detailed in the Pennsylvania document. Father Henry Paul is mentioned as a Sallies employee in newspaper articles in the 1940s and 1950s. The grand jury report states that in 1979, a person wrote a letter to officials of the Diocese in Allentown, Pennsylvania, reporting that Paul had taken little girls into the rectory and kissed them. CHURCH ABUSE COVERAGE After decades of quiet suffering, Delaware priest abuse victim tells her story Former Delaware priest charged with child rape dies months before trial 'Men of God hid it all': Church protected more than 300 'predator priests' in Pa., grand jury says Officials said children had described Paul "French" kissing them, the report states. None of the children were over the age of 12. He was allowed to continue ministry at a different assignment and died in 1982. He was also one of the abusers named in conjunction with the Oblates settlements. Father Paul Fisher was assigned to Archmere Academy for one year in 1997, according to the grand jury report. Later, at an assignment in Pennsylvania, he was accused of viewing pornography involving children. He admitted to diocese officials that he conducted online searches that included "incest" and "really sick, abusive stories" and stated that he was more interested in fantasy stories, the report states. He did admit the result of those searches did sometimes include naked people that looked under 18 and involved "all out porn, including penetration." He also admitted to viewing nudist websites where there were images of nude children playing volleyball, according to the report. Following his removal from the ministry, he indicated he wanted to return to Delaware as a priest for his former order of Norbertines, the order that founded Archmere. The report is unclear as to what became of that request. Father Dennis Dellamalva never worked in Delaware but the grand jury report states that in the early 1980s he fondled the genitals of two adolescent boys in their bedrooms and on trips to places like Rehoboth Beach with the boys' family. The Pennsylvania grand jury interviewed hundreds of thousands of internal church documents, interviewed dozens of victims and detailed allegations from dioceses in Allentown, Scranton, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Erie and Pittsburgh. It details how priests were moved from parish to parish and how officials scurried to avoid accountability and prosecution. Contact: xwilson@delawareonline.com
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