Who Is Hayden Vaverek, the Former Catholic Priest Who's Been Accused of Sexual Abuse

By Mike Ellis and Nathaniel Cary
Greenville News
February 28, 2019

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/south-carolina/2019/02/28/who-hayden-vaverek-former-catholic-priest-accused-sexual-abuse/3018032002/

Hayden Vaverek, 53, is a laicized Catholic priest who's been accused of sexually abusing a former student at St. Joseph's Catholic School in Greenville.

Michael Cassabon, a 1998 St. Joseph’s graduate, told The Greenville News he was abused by Vaverek multiple times over the course of at least two years in the 1990s.

Cassabon reported the alleged abuse in 2013. The Diocese of Charleston and the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office investigated. Vaverek was removed from the priesthood in 2013.

Cassabon didn’t pursue a criminal charge against Vaverek, and Vaverek has not been criminally charged, though the diocese said Cassabon's claim of abuse was "credible."

Here's more about who Vaverek is:

> Vaverek now lives in San Marcos, Texas, according to records.

> In the 1990s Vaverek regularly commuted from Greenwood, the site of his home church at the time, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, to St. Joseph's Catholic School in Greenville, where he performed mass and other sacraments.

> Vaverek operates a charitable organization, Pax Bonum, that focuses on helping people who are leaving or have left the priesthood, according to records.

> Vaverek worked at schools or churches in Greenville, Simpsonville, Anderson, Greenwood, McCormick, Myrtle Beach, Garden City, Moncks Corner, Bonneau and Hilton Head Island, according to records.

> Vaverek did not respond to multiple attempts to reach him for comment.