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Ex-deacon and Jesuit, Shaw high schools targeted by lawsuits alleging clergy abuse
By Ramon Antonio Vargas
Three new lawsuits filed last week in Orleans Parish Civil District Court allege separate cases of sexual abuse decades ago by a former deacon currently facing criminal charges, a priest at Jesuit High School in New Orleans, and a priest and a religious brother who worked at Archbishop Shaw High School in Marrero. The suits that claim child molestation by ex-deacon George Brignac and the late Donald Pearce — a priest who was president of Jesuit during part of the 1960s — are largely under seal and do not identify the plaintiffs. The suit alleging abuse at Shaw High by Salesian priest Ernest Fagione and James Hurley, a religious brother of the same order, is not under seal but also does not identify the plaintiff. The three cases join a wave of suits filed against local Catholic institutions since the church’s ongoing clergy sex abuse crisis reignited last year. The plaintiffs argue they are owed compensation because of the harmful effects the abuse has had on them throughout their lives. Listed as defendants are the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the religious orders running the two high schools. The archdiocese and Jesuit declined comment, both citing a policy against discussing pending litigation. The Salesian order didn’t respond to a request for comment. Attorneys Frank LaMothe and Kristi Schubert, who represent the plaintiffs in the cases involving Brignac and Pearce, filed their suits on Sept. 24. Both plaintiffs say the molestation they suffered was so traumatic that they repressed memories of it for decades — finally recalling the events last year after seeing news coverage of the abuse scandal. One of the plaintiffs says he was 12 when he met Brignac at summer camp at St. Matthew the Apostle in River Ridge. He says Brignac fondled him and had oral sex with him on a number of occasions. The suit doesn’t specify exactly when the alleged abuse occurred. But Brignac was previously acquitted on criminal charges that he molested boys while he worked at St. Matthew in the 1970s. Brignac has been arrested three more times on child molestation accusations, including on Sept. 21, when he was booked with first-degree rape in a case involving his time at Our Lady of the Rosary later in the 1970s and into the 1980s. He is out of jail on bail. As for the plaintiff in the third case, he says he was a student at Jesuit in the 1960s when he was sent to Pearce’s office to face discipline. His suit alleges Pearce bent him over a desk, raped him and then threatened to expel him if he ever disclosed what had happened. Pearce died in 2008. Both he and Brignac were on the archdiocese’s Nov. 2 list naming dozens of local clergymen who had been credibly accused of molesting children. Attorneys Richard Trahant and John Denenea represent the plaintiff in the case involving Fagione, Hurley and Shaw High School, filed Sept. 26. According to their suit, the plaintiff was a 14-year-old freshman in 1968 when Fagione — who ran the bookstore at the time — began groping the boy and forcing oral sex on him. The suit says the abuse lasted for a few years, during which Hurley would sometimes join Fagione in abusing the boy. Hurley also raped the boy, the suit says. The suit says the plaintiff didn’t seek damages at an earlier time because it wasn’t until the release of the Nov. 2 list that local Catholic officials acknowledged that Fagione, who died in 2006, and other Salesian clergy had been credibly accused of child molestation. Officials who compiled that roster decided not to include any religious brothers or sisters, such as Hurley, on the list. They said identifying such personnel was the responsibility of their respective orders. Contact: rvargas@theadvocate.com
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