Schenectady priest accused of child sex abuse dead at 91

By Cayla Harris
Times Union
September 25, 2019

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Schenectady-priest-accused-of-child-sex-abuse-14463887.php

The Rev. Francis P. Melfe

Rev. Francis P. Melfe, who left the priesthood the year before, poses with Edith Thomas and their five children, including his biological son, in Easter 1980 in front of their Debutante Manor house in Guilderland.

The Schenectady home where the former priest, Francis “Frank” Melfe, lives now at age 91. He declined to comment on allegations he secretly lived with a woman and her children.

Patrolmen's Benevolent Association hosts dinner in Schenectady, New York - Reverend Francis Melfe, left, Chaplain; Michael Andriano, dinner chairman; Douglas Ralston, President, PBA; Raymond Wemple, toastmaster; Reverend Robert Albohm, chaplai. October 23, 1973 Photo by Raymond B. Summers

Rev. Francis P. Melfe with Edith Thomas and her five children at what the children say was their home Debutante Manor in Guilderland.

Francis P. Melfe, the former Schenectady priest targeted in multiple child sex abuse claims, died Friday. He was 91.

A private service was held Tuesday morning at Cannon Funeral Home, followed by a burial at Our Lady of Angels Cemetery in Albany. About a dozen people attended the interment, a brief Catholic ceremony held at the far end of the cemetery.

Melfe, who resigned from the priesthood in 1979, has been at the center of multiple accusations of child sex abuse lodged against the Albany Diocese in recent months, as New York's recently enacted Child Victims Act has allowed survivors of all ages to sue their alleged offenders.

Beginning in the late 1960s, Melfe served for a decade as pastor of Immaculate Conception Church, which shuttered in 2010.

Times Union columnist Paul Grondahl reported in August that lawyers representing David Melfe, the former priest's biological son, and his four siblings were preparing to file suit under the Child Victims Act. New York's statute of limitations previously required victims of childhood sexual abuse to file civil suits by age 23.

According to the siblings, Melfe in 1970 began an elaborate subterfuge in which he maintained a Guilderland household with Edith Thomas, at the time a divorced mother of four children, while also serving as pastor at Immaculate Conception. He married Thomas in 1988; they subsequently divorced.

The children, now aged 47 to 62, claim they were subjected to years of emotional and sexual abuse by Melfe, who continued to live in Schenectady until his death.

Attorneys for the five siblings sent a pre-litigation letter to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany outlining allegations against the diocese and former Bishop Howard Hubbard, who the lawyers claim had been alerted multiple times about Melfe's secret family. Diocesan officials forwarded the letter to the Albany County district attorney's office and the diocese's victim assistance coordinator.

The Melfes' lawyers — who filed their suit Aug. 15 — contend the plaintiffs are entitled to compensatory and punitive damages.

His children were not informed of Melfe's death and were not involved in funeral arrangements, according to their attorney JoAnn Harri. She added that a death certificate lists the cause of death as multiple forms of cancer.

Harri's firm recently filed another civil complaint brought by an anonymous 54-year-old Schenectady County woman against Melfe, Hubbard and the diocese.

The complaint, dated Sept. 12, alleges that the woman, identified as Harper Doe, worked for Melfe in the rectory of Immaculate Conception, where he would host weekend poker nights with Hubbard and other priests. She says Melfe, Hubbard and another Immaculate Conception priest, Father Albert DelVecchio, sexually abused her by masturbating on her. She alleges more serious sexual abuse by Melfe, and accuses DelVecchio — who died in 2017 — of raping her when she was 15.

Hubbard, who was accused of sexually abusing a young boy in a separate complaint filed last month, has repeatedly denied sexually abusing anyone.

Mary DeTurris Poust, a spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, issued a statement earlier this month calling Harper Doe's allegations "deeply troubling" and promised a full investigation into the claims. She said Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan was alerted about all claims against Hubbard in keeping with Pope Francis' requirements on reporting allegations against bishops.

"It is important to remember that, like anyone else, Bishop Emeritus Howard J. Hubbard enjoys the presumption of innocence until and unless proven otherwise," she said in a statement. "The Diocese of Albany will keep its focus on survivors and on getting to the truth of the matter in each and every case that is filed."