Who Is Michael Cassabon, the Priest Who's Made Accusations Related to St. Joseph's

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

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/south-carolina/2019/02/28/who-michael-cassabon-who-made-accusations-related-st-josephs/3017320002/

Michael Cassabon told The Greenville News he was abused by Hayden Vaverek multiple times over the course of at least two years while Cassabon was a student at St. Joseph's Catholic School in Greenville.

He 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 2016.

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

Here's more on who Cassabon is:

> Michael Cassabon, 38, is a Catholic priest who now lives in Toronto, Canada. He's said he was sexually assaulted by a priest while he was a student at St. Joseph's Catholic School in Greenville.

> The Catholic church investigated Cassabon's allegations and found them credible before removing the priest, Hayden Vaverek, from the priesthood.

> Cassabon's family helped launch St. Joseph's Catholic School, where he graduated in 1998. Cassabon spent weekends installing drywall for the school, he said, and he and his father have each been honored with awards from the school.

> Cassabon attended Furman University and later joined the priesthood. He believes he was the first priest to graduate from St. Joseph's.

> Cassabon said he has come out as a gay man. He said he is married and occasionally visits family members who still live in the Upstate.

> Cassabon asked the diocese for $1.3 million in compensation and asked to be listed indefinitely as a priest on personal leave, according to a copy of a letter he wrote in August 2018 and provided to The Greenville News.

> Cassabon wrote restaurant reviews for The Greenville News as a high school student.