NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger
• Read Fr. Joseph Di Peri’s personnel file from the Marianist order here
By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on August 01, 2013
A court-ordered release of personnel files involving religious-order clergy members in California has revealed the name of another New Jersey priest accused of sexual abuse.
The Rev. Joseph Di Peri, now deceased, was removed from ministry in New Jersey in 2003 after the Archdiocese of Newark learned he had been credibly accused of molesting a teenage boy in the late 1970s at Chaminade College Preparatory High School in West Hills, Calif.
At the time of the alleged abuse, Di Peri was serving a one-year stint as a teacher and dorm chaplain at the school, run by the Marianists, an order of brothers and priests.
Former Archbishop Peter Gerety granted him leave from Newark after Di Peri told him he would benefit from a warmer climate because of health concerns, the 27-page personnel file shows.
Despite Di Peri’s removal from ministry, the archdiocese did not publicly disclose the allegations or the fact that he had been placed under a “permanent monitoring system,” according to the files. The documents indicate he was living in a retirement home in the Diocese of Trenton.
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