Harrisburg diocese disputes report: Priest's conduct 'creepy,' but not child sexual abuse

By Brandie Kessler
York Daily Record
August 17, 2018

https://www.ydr.com/story/news/2018/08/17/harrisburg-diocese-disputes-naming-priest-pa-grand-jury-clergy-sexual-abuse-report/1008125002/

Todd Frey holds a set of rosary beads given to him by a family member. Photo by Anthony J. Machcinski

The name of one accused priest from the Harrisburg diocese that was listed in the grand jury report released Tuesday was left off the list of names provided by the Harrisburg diocese earlier this month.

Matt Haverstick, the Harrisburg diocese's attorney, said that the omission of James McLucas was not a mistake.

"This is not shenanigans by the diocese," Haverstick said. "I don't care what the grand jury report says."

Haverstick said McLucas was not among the 72 names provided by the diocese because he did not sexually abuse a child.

"The report is not entirely accurate," Haverstick said of the nearly 900-page grand jury presentment in which 301 priests are accused of sexually abusing children since the 1940s.

The grand jury report says McLucas was a priest in the Archdiocese of New York living in Elysburg, Pennsylvania, as the chaplain to a monastery in 2014. Elysburg is within the Diocese of Harrisburg's territory.

"The head Mother of the Monastery called the Diocese of Harrisburg after finding out McLucas had sexually abused a 14 year old girl and continued a relationship with her into her adulthood," the grand jury report says. "This was reported to the Archdiocese of New York in 2012."

But Haverstick said a lawsuit filed by the woman who said McLucas abused her mentions nothing of McLucas abusing her when she was a child.

The woman filed the lawsuit in New York in July 2012 when she was 26 years old,

The lawsuit indicates that beginning in July 2007 and continuing through December 2009, the woman was "sexually abused, attacked and harassed," by McLucas. 

At the time the sexual relations began, the woman was 20 years old, and McLucas was working for the Archdiocese of New York. 

The claim of child sexual abuse "looks disproved to me," Haverstick said, referencing an affidavit filed as part of the lawsuit, a copy of which he said was provided to the grand jury.

Haverstick acknowledged that McLucas' actions were not appropriate.

"Admittedly, creepy and wrong," Haverstick said. "But the allegation isn't that he abused a minor, it's that he had sex with her when she was an adult."

Haverstick told a reporter to ask the attorney general's office what it did with the affidavit, in which "it was clear that the victim herself never alleged that she was abused as a minor."

Joe Grace, spokesman for the attorney general's office, reaffirmed the grand jury report Thursday.

“We stand fully behind the Grand Jury’s findings with regard to James McLucas’ misconduct," Grace said by email. "The grand jury made its unanimous findings after fully reviewing all of the Diocese’s records regarding McLucas’ involvement with and sexual abuse of a minor.”

Grace did not answer other questions, including whether the report is entirely accurate or whether McLucas was given a chance to testify or provide evidence to the grand jury.

In the grand jury report, a response from McLucas says he was not given a chance to testify before the grand jury or provide evidence on his own behalf. McLucas requests "that interested persons read and consider" his response "before forming any final conclusions about the shocking and horrible accusations that have been leveled against him in the report..."

The response goes on:

"These allegations must have been based upon half-truths, false assumptions, and/or innuendo and are categorically false."

Although the woman doesn't allege child sexual abuse claims against McLucas in her lawsuit, she does claim grooming.

The woman details how she suffered from an eating disorder, and McLucas, whom her parents knew, agreed to give her counseling beginning when she was in her teens in exchange for donations.

McLucas gave the woman counseling for years, beginning in 2000 when she was 14, and continuing until after she went to college.

The counseling sessions increased in frequency, from once per week to every other day, and eventually every day. The woman said that once she was in college, McLucas "deceived" her, and alienated her from her parents.

In June 2007, McLucas told the woman he had "romantic feelings" for her, according to her lawsuit. The following month, McLucas again told her he had romantic feelings for her and that he wanted to have sexual relations with her.

When the woman "questioned the propriety of that proposal," McLucas said "'I am a priest and I would tell you if it was not right,'" according to her lawsuit. The woman said McLucas told her "he wanted to show me how beautiful I was and that would cure my eating disorder and self esteem issues."

McLucas told the woman not to tell her parents about their sexual relations and discouraged her relationship with her parents, blaming her family for her eating disorder and self esteem issues, she said in the lawsuit.

The woman said she started therapy in June 2012, and "finally realized that the relationship was based on Defendant McLucas manipulating me." Her therapist helped her to see that McLucas "was grooming me since the year 2000 to be unable to make any decision unless it was one that he directed."

The woman said when she told McLucas she didn't want to see him any more, he said she was "breaking his world," and "it is time you start protecting me."

The woman, who settled her civil case in 2013, said McLucas' being a priest was a substantial factor in making her "succumb to his advances..."

McLucas' lawyer, listed in the grand jury report, did not respond to a request for comment. McLucas could not be reached for comment.

Joe Zwilling, spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, confirmed by email that McLucas is a priest of the archdiocese, "but he has not had an assignment since this matter became known to us, and is not currently functioning as a priest."

Zwilling referenced the affidavit filed as part of the lawsuit, which he said makes it clear their sexual relationship when she was an adult.

"The relationship was unquestionable and categorically wrong, but it was not a case of sexual abuse of a minor," Zwilling wrote.

Zwilling did not say where McLucas is now.