CALIFORNIA
The Bay Area Reporter
by Cynthia Laird
c.laird@ebar.com
Father John Conley, a gay man who entered the priesthood later in life but was castigated by Archdiocese of San Francisco officials after he reported to police a fellow cleric who he suspected of sexually abusing an altar boy, died November 4 at his residence in South San Francisco. He was 71.
Mr. Conley was a federal prosecutor when he decided to follow his dream of becoming a priest. According to a news release from the archdiocese, Mr. Conley entered Saint Patrick’s Seminary and was ordained to the priesthood April 17, 1993 at Saint Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco by then-Archbishop John R. Quinn.
But it was in his role as a whistleblower that he made news, having witnessed what he believed were improper actions by another priest, James Aylward, at a Burlingame church in 1997. Mr. Conley reported the incident to his superiors but was later viewed as an outcast by Aylward’s supporters.
Then-Archbishop William Levada transferred Mr. Conley to a parish in Mill Valley, and ordered him not to discuss the incident he witnessed with nuns assigned to St. Catherine’s parish, where Aylward was pastor, according to a 2004 SF Weekly article.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.