UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org
Summary of Case: Bernard “Fr. Barney” Bissonnette was ordained in 1958 for the Diocese of Norwich CT. It wasn’t long before he was first transferred out of a parish due to allegations of child sexual abuse, in 1959. He cycled through four parishes in the Norwich diocese, removed each time due to allegations, then was sent in 1963 to to the Servants of the Paraclete’s Via Coeli in Jemez Springs NM for treatment. His Norwich bishop would not allow him to return to the diocese due to his “notoriety,” but continued to support him financially. Bissonnette went to the Duluth MN diocese for a short time 1965-66, spending time at parish and in treatment at another Servants of the Paraclete facility. He returned to NM, where he worked in parishes until 1992; he also was chaplain of a correctional facility for boys until his removal in 1978, due to allegations he sexually abused “inmates.” Bissonnette has been the subject of a number of lawsuits. One accuser said Bissonnette’s abuse in the early 1960s included his forcing the boy to perform sex acts on other children.
In 1993 three CT brothers of a Bissonnette victim, who took his own life in 1991, traveled to NM to confront the priest. Their father had reported the brother’s abuse to the Norwich diocese in 1963, after which Bissonnette was sent to NM. Bissonnette admitted the abuse to the victim’s brothers when confronted, while minimizing the extent. The brothers found that Bissonnette was living at the time with a Belen NM family which included small children. The family ignored their warnings about the priest; the brothers reported the situation to the diocese and state police. Bissonnette was laicized in 2005. He died in NM in 2008.
Born: October 1931
Ordained: May 15, 1958
Laicized: May 20, 2005
Died: December 24, 2008
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