Lawyer Details Sex Abuse Claim against Retired Priest

By Kiernan Dunlop
SouthCoastToday
January 20, 2020

https://www.southcoasttoday.com/news/20200120/lawyer-details-sex-abuse-claim-against-retired-priest

Fall River - Details are coming to light about allegations of sexual abuse against a retired priest recently suspended by the Diocese of Fall River.

On Monday, Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, well known for representing sexual abuse victims in claims against the Archdiocese of Boston, sent out a statement detailing a claim against the Rev. Edward J. Byington.

Byington was one of two priests named by the Fall River diocese Sunday as having been suspended from ministry due to separate allegations of sexual abuse of a minor going back several decades.

Garabedian said he represents a sexual abuse victim “who claims he was sexually abused by Father Byington when he was approximately 16 to 17 years old.”

According to Garabedian, that abuse occurred in 1971 when Byington offered his client a ride home from the ECHO (Encountering Christ in Others) retreat, but instead drove him to the rectory of Sacred Heart Church in Taunton even though Byington was not assigned to that church at the time.