NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger
By Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
on May 23, 2014
A Passaic County pastor was suspended from ministry this morning after officials in the Diocese of Paterson learned he had invited a former priest accused of sexually assaulting boys to a family festival at Our Lady of the Valley Parish in Wayne.
The Rev. Msgr. Christopher C. DiLella may not perform clerical functions or hold himself out as a priest while Bishop Arthur Serratelli investigates the matter, according to a statement released by the Paterson Diocese.
DiLella, the statement said, permitted former priest John Capparelli to attend the festival during the week of May 12. Capparelli had served as a priest in the Archdiocese of Newark but was suspended in 1992 following allegations that he sexually assaulted and brutalized teenage boys during wrestling matches.
In 2011, The Star-Ledger revealed he was working in the Newark school system, teaching math to teens. Following the reports, he was pulled from the classroom and placed on administrative duty. The state later revoked his teaching credentials, citing the past allegations and his oversight of a fetish wrestling website that bordered on pornography.
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