HARTFORD (CT)
Connecticut Post [Bridgeport CT]
September 3, 2025
By Alex Wood
NEW HAVEN — A man is suing the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford, alleging a now-deceased priest who had been assigned to a New Haven parish sexually assaulted him at gunpoint in 1988, when he was 8 years old, court records show.
The man, identified in court documents by the pseudonym Charles Doe, alleges in his complaint, filed July 8 in state Superior Court in New Haven, that he was abused by the Rev. Howard Nash, who was assigned to St. Bernadette’s Church in New Haven.
David Elliott, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said via email, “It is the longstanding policy of the Archdiocese of Hartford to not comment publicly on abuse allegations and/or settlements. The Archdiocese of Hartford continues to apologize and work with victims of clergy sexual abuse and their families to bring them a lasting healing.”
Elliott said Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne and his staff “are committed to doing all that is humanly possible to ensure that this never happens again and that our churches are safe places for children and families at all times.”
The complaint in the lawsuit, filed by lawyer Thomas M. McNamara, says the boy’s parents separated around October 1987 and that Nash, who regularly attended gatherings of the boy’s family, began around that time to tell him about a house he owned in Vermont, “by Mount Snow.”
The boy had started skiing the previous winter and “enjoyed it immensely,” according to the complaint, which says Nash invited him to the Vermont house for a ski weekend.
After driving the boy to Vermont on a Friday in January or February 1988, the complaint says, Nash asked him the next day if he had ever seen a real gun, to which the boy answered, “No.”
Nash then set up a folding table by his driveway, put empty aluminum cans and glass jars on it, brought out two revolvers and showed the boy how to fire them, according to the complaint. Under Nash’s guidance, the complaint says, the boy fired one of the guns and hit some of the targets.
That night, the boy, who was sleeping in a different bedroom than Nash’s, was awakened by a voice calling his name and a tapping on his chest, the complaint says, adding that he opened his eyes to find Nash standing over him with no clothes on.
As Nash tried to pull off the boy’s pajama bottoms, the boy pushed his hand away, and Nash slapped him on the side of the head, grunting, “Stay still,” the complaint says.
Nash proceeded to pull off the boy’s pajama bottoms and underwear, then sat on one of two chairs beside the bed, the complaint says. On the other chair was a folded white towel with one of the revolvers on it, pointed directly at the boy, the complaint continues.
It says Nash looked at the revolver, then looked back into the boy’s eyes with a “menacing glare.” The boy froze, paralyzed with fear, and Nash said, “Look, look,” and hit him again on the side of the head before sexually assaulting him, the complaint says.
The boy started to cry, and Nash hit him on the side of the head a third time, yelling, “Stop it,” the complaint says.
It says Nash left the room, throwing the towel on the boy’s stomach, but came back wearing a robe, removed the chairs and the revolver and left the boy in the dark room “in a state of terror and confusion” that kept him from sleeping all night.
The complaint says Nash came back later, wearing a towel around his waist, and sexually assaulted the boy again.
A ‘nightmare’ to be forgotten
Nash drove the boy back to Connecticut the next day, the complaint says. It says Nash pulled into a parking lot at some point and told the boy he had “so much fun” and could not “wait to go back.” It says he added that whatever the boy “thought happened was a nightmare” and that he “had better forget all about it.”
The complaint says Nash continued to be present at almost every family gathering at the boy’s grandparents’ house until his death in 2001.
The complaint alleges that the Archdiocese of Hartford “knew that Nash had sexually abused other boys” but provides no further details on those alleged incidents or how the archdiocese allegedly knew of them.
It also alleges that the archdiocese kept secret all reports of priests sexually assaulting minors in something variously referred to as the “secret archives,” the “379 file” or the “489 file.”
It claims the archdiocese knew before 1988 that at least five priests had sexually abused boys in houses or cottages they owned.
The complaint faults the archdiocese for failing to have a policy forbidding priests from having children in their private homes without at least one other adult being present.
It also alleges numerous other deficiencies in the supervision of Nash by the archdiocese and in its investigation and reporting of “suspicious conduct” by Nash and others in authority.
The complaint also accuses the archdiocese of violating Connecticut’s law on mandatory reporting of sexual abuse that it says took effect in 1971.
It says the plaintiff in the lawsuit “suffered serious and permanent psychological and emotional injuries” as a result of the sexual abuse and has required psychological counseling. It seeks money damages, “exemplary damages,” and reimbursement for attorney’s fees and costs.
In addition to the archdiocese, the complaint names as a defendant St. Pio pf Pietrelcina Parish Corp., which it says merged with The St. Bernadette’s Church Corp. in 2020, assuming “certain potential liabilities” of St. Bernadette’s.
Sep 3, 2025
Alex Wood, Staff Writer
Alex Wood has been with the Journal Inquirer since 1985 and joined Hearst Connecticut Media Group when it acquired the JI in 2023. He has covered courts for more than 30 years along with a number of other assignments. He is married with a grown daughter and son-in-law, teaches church school, and enjoys riding a bicycle, hiking, listening to music and watching a small part of the cornucopia of video entertainment now available through streaming.