SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican
Andrew Nicastro describes alleged sexual abuse by defrocked priest Andrew Graves, says 2 former bishops should have prevented it
By Buffy Spencer, The Republican
SPRINGFIELD – Jurors heard 42-year-old Andrew Nicastro describe how his parish priest in Williamstown sexually abused him about twice a week for about three years when he was between 11 and 14 years old.
Nicastro – apologizing to Hampden Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney when he had to hesitate to clear his tears – said during the same years as he was assaulting him, the former Rev. Alfred Graves was choosing him for the most sought-after altar boy duties.
“I felt special, chosen,” Nicastro said of his altar boy duties at funerals, weddings and other ceremonies.
Graves, then pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Williamstown, even sexually assaulted Nicastro in the church during 1981 or 1982 to 1985, Nicastro said.
Nicastro was testifying in his civil lawsuit against two former bishops he said should be held accountable for his childhood abuse by Graves because they were in supervisory positions in the Roman Catholic Diocese and knew Graves had assaulted two other boys before Nicastro.
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