BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
September 10, 2020
By Travis Andersen
A former longtime priest at a Catholic church in Lynn who’d been accused in 2012 of sexually abusing a child has been banned from exercising “any public ministry” and sentenced by church authorities to a life of prayer and penance, according to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.
In a statement, the archdiocese identified the priest as Rev. James E. Gaudreau and said he’s “not permitted to exercise any public ministry, including not being allowed to celebrate public Mass. He may not provide spiritual direction, may not wear clerical attire and cannot function in any manner as a priest. He is to live in contemplation of his sins and pray for all of those affected by his conduct.”
The allegations against Gaudreau had surfaced in 2012, when the cleric was accused of molesting a child in 2006. But the following year, the Essex district attorney’s office declined to file criminal charges.
Gaudreau had said in a statement shortly after that decision that his “conscience was always clear.” He said he “knew that I was innocent of any wrongdoing. I was also confident that, in time, I would be thoroughly exonerated.”
The district attorney’s office didn’t comment at the time on the reason for declining to file charges. The archdiocese continued its own probe.
On Thursday, Terry Donilon, a spokesman for the Boston archdiocese, said Gaudreau’s case was ultimately heard and adjudicated by the Diocese of Brooklyn. The Vatican decides where such cases will be heard for a variety of reasons such as conflicts of interest or caseloads, Donilon said.
He wrote in an email that Gaudreau’s appeal was “heard and denied by the Vatican Dicastery of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith who oversee sexual abuse of minor matters.”
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