CORPUS CHRISTI (TX)
Corpus Christi Caller Times
February 7, 2019
By Alexandria Rodriguez
Twenty-six clergy members with ties to the Catholic Diocese of Corpus Christi had “credible” claims of sexual abuse to minors
The diocese was among the 15 in Texas that released names of clergy members with “credible” accusations Jan. 31.
Twelve of the clergy members listed were dead and two received criminal convictions. Bishop Michael Mulvey said no one on the list is active in the ministry.
Here’s what we know about the men on the Diocese of Corpus Christi’s list.
More: These Diocese of Corpus Christi priests were accused of sexual abuse
Bishop Michael Mulvey answers questions from the media after Diocese of Corpus Christi released a list of names of priests accused of sexual abuse of minors on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019.Buy Photo
Bishop Michael Mulvey answers questions from the media after Diocese of Corpus Christi released a list of names of priests accused of sexual abuse of minors on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019. (Photo: Courtney Sacco/Caller-Times)
Bishop Joseph Vincent Sullivan
Joseph Vincent Sullivan was ordained in the Diocese of Kansas City in 1946. The Diocese of Corpus Christi said in its list that Sullivan visited the area. He died in 1982.
He was the bishop of Baton Rouge.
In 2009, a Nueces County judge ordered the Catholic dioceses of Baton Rouge and Corpus Christi to hand over records for a civil lawsuit alleging Sullivan abused a boy in Corpus Christi from 1978 to 1982, according to a Caller-Times article.
The man, who was a teenage student in the Baton Rouge minor seminary and the Corpus Christi Minor Seminary, said Sullivan would visit him in Corpus Christi. The lawsuit alleged the dioceses “failed to protect the boy,” the article states.
“The man did not remember the abuse until within two years of the filing of the lawsuit in 2007, according to court documents. Attorney Johnny Garza said memories resurfaced in therapy the man underwent after his second marriage collapsed,” the article reads.
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