Maine Bishop Must Do Outreach Regarding Recently Named Abusive Priest

By Zach Hiner
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
February 5, 2019

https://bit.ly/2D7P258

A former Maine Catholic priest was deemed ‘credibly accused’ last week and put on a list of abusive priests by Catholic officials in Texas. Now, Maine church staff should aggressively reach out to anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes.

Fr. Paul M. Clogan was a Maine diocesan priest who spent two years in Waterville at Holy Spirit parish and in Machias at Holy Name parish and at the University of Maine at Machias.

He was arrested in 2005 in Texas and charged with groping a 16 year old boy in a movie theater. In 2008, his criminal trial ended in a mistrial before a jury was seated. A new trial was to be held in 2008 but never took place.

But last week, the Austin diocese disclosed that he was credibly accused of child sex abuse.

Given this determination, as well as bishops’ pledges to be transparent and put care for survivors first, we believe that Bishop Robert P. Deeley of Portland must seek out anyone who may have been hurt by Fr. Clogan while the priest spent time in the Diocese of Portland. Bishop Deeley should use all tools at his exposure to reach out to potential victims, including parish bulletins, church websites and pulpit announcements.