NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord Monitor
By TRICIA L. NADOLNY
Monitor staff
Friday, May 17, 2013
The Pembroke parents who accused a Concord priest of making inappropriate sexual comments to their son during the sacrament of confession will be paid $2,000 to settle the lawsuit they filed in February, according to a spokesman from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester.
The settlement, reached Wednesday, stipulates that the money will go to future educational costs of the 14-year-old boy, who is a student at St. John Regional School.
Spokesman Kevin Donovan said the settlement is not an admission of guilt by the Rev. George Desjardins, who was accused of talking about pornography and rape in a December 2012 confession held during the school day. Donovan called the payment “minimal” and a “means to an end, so the community can move on.”
The parents, who are not being named to protect the name of their son, maintain that Desjardins’s comments were unacceptable, their lawyer, Peter Hutchins, said. In the lawsuit filed at Hillsborough County Superior Court, they accused Desjardins of asking the boy whether he had “engaged in watching pornographic material and masturbating.” When the boy said that he hadn’t and that he had a girlfriend, Desjardins told the boy to use “rubbers” and warned him to be careful because a girl can “yell ‘rape’ ” during sex, the lawsuit continued.
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