ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Sept. 5, 2019
A priest accused of abuse in Connecticut has just been removed due to “credible allegations” of abuse which were first reported in the early 2000s. We call on church officials to explain the delay and to provide an explanation for their public silence on this situation.
Accusations against Fr. Stephen Gleeson were apparently first reported to the diocese in 2002. Bishop Frank J. Caggiano has evidently kept silent for almost two decades about these child sex abuse allegations. Such silence flies in the face of church officials’ promise to be “open and honest” in cases of clergy sex abuse. Parishioners and the public in the Bridgeport Diocese should demand an explanation for this secrecy.
The bishop acknowledged that his hand-picked abuse panel met several times to discuss the accusations against Fr. Gleeson. But we believe that Bishop Caggiano should have disclosed the abuse report as soon as it was made. Now that the allegations have finally been made public, he should also disclose why this panel previously found the allegations “not credible” and changed course on that finding today.
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.