KNOXVILLE (TN)
Knoxville Sentinel
July 22, 2019
By Amy McRary
An East Tennessee man alleges he was sexually abused as a child by a longtime Catholic priest, the first bishop of the Knoxville diocese and others.
Attorneys for Blount County resident Michael Boyd are suing the Diocese of Knoxville in a Knox County Circuit Court lawsuit filed July 18.
While the Diocese is the only named defendant, the 20-page lawsuit claims the former altar boy was repeatedly abused in the 1990s by longtime Knoxville priest Xavier Mankel and at least twice by Bishop Anthony O’Connell.
The suit also alleged Mankel allowed visiting priests to have “inappropriate sexual conduct” with the child in a church sacristy.
O’Connell, who died in 2012, is the best-known figure named in the suit. He became the first bishop of the Knoxville diocese when it was formed in 1988. Ten years later, he became bishop of Palm Beach, Florida. He resigned in 2002 after admitting inappropriate conduct with minors in Missouri decades earlier and before he was in Knoxville.
The suit alleged that Mankel, a priest for 56 years, was Boyd’s main predator. Naming Mankel as an abuser is likely to shock many Knoxville Catholics. He hasn’t been named on lists of priests accused by abuse that have been released by Catholic authorities or survivor support groups.
Mankel, who died in 2017 at age 81, was a Knoxville native and a Catholic institution for decades. His positions included being pastor of Sacred Heart Cathedral from 1987-1997.
He helped found the Knoxville diocese, serving as its first chancellor and vicar general. He was later given the title of monsignor.
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