ERIE (PA)
Erie Times-News
July 9, 2020
[See also SBU to consider renaming building after claim of sexual abuse, by Sean Mickey, Bona Venture, March 12, 2020; and the description of the Hopkins case in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report, August 14, 2018.]
St. Bonaventure NY – The name of a deceased priest who is on the Catholic Diocese of Erie’s list of credibly accused has been removed from a building on the St. Bonaventure University campus.
Msgr. James Hopkins, the Erie diocese said in July 2018, was the subject of an abuse report in 1993, long after his death in 1957. His name was among those included in a grand jury’s report in August 2018 on abuse in six Pennsylvania dioceses including Erie.
Hopkins attended seminary at St. Bonaventure in the late 1890s and received an honorary degree in 1950, the university said. He was pastor at St. Titus Church in Titusville, and the allegations of abuse stemmed from his time there.
Hopkins Hall has been the name of the university’s administration building. The sign in front of the building has been removed and it will be known as the Administration Building until renaming discussions start at an undetermined time.
University President Dennis DePerro drafted a resolution to have Hopkins’ name removed from the building. The Board of Trustees approved the resolution at its annual summer meeting.
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