UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org
Summary of Case: Rev. John J. Gallen was a Jesuit priest of the New York Province, ordained in 1963. Gallen went on to become an internationally known scholar and author who led seminars around the world on Catholic liturgy and worship. In 1993 a man reported to his then-home diocese of Milwaukee that, when he was a 16-year-old altar boy in 1980 at a Toledo OH parish, Gallen sexually abused him. Gallen was at the parish in March 1980 to lead a week-long retreat. His accuser said Gallen touched him inappropriately and kissed him. The man said that Gallen later got his parents to allow him to help the priest with a move from Phoenix to Sacramento and that, during the trip, Gallen forced him into oral sex. Gallen’s accuser said he reported the abuse to two of his parish priests shortly thereafter, but that the priests did not believe him. Gallen sent his accuser letters of apology for his behavior in 1993 and 1994. Gallen could not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired. He died April 17, 2011.
Ordained: 1963
Died: April 17, 2011
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