MANCHESTER (NH)
InDepthNH.org - New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism [Barrington NH]
March 12, 2026
By Damien Fisher
More than 40 years after it happened, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester finally settled a sexual abuse lawsuit brought by one of the victims of former priest Mark Fleming.
The victim was 7 years old when Fleming assaulted him at St. John the Evangelist parish in Hudson, and he wasn’t the only victim, according to court records. The Church paid the victim, now 51, a low six-figure settlement to end the lawsuit.
But Fleming somehow continues to evade justice thanks to decades of silence from the diocese and New Hampshire prosecutors.
“The Catholic Church had a moral responsibility to notify the public that Fr. Fleming was a serial pedophile and a danger to children, but they washed their hands,” said Mitchell Garabedian, attorney for the victim.
The victim’s abuse took place in 1983, and was reported to authorities in 1984. That’s when Fleming disappeared, Garabedian said. From 1984 through to 1987, Fleming was out on “sick leave.”
“Sick leave is often code for pedophilia,” Garabedian said.
In fact, Fleming was sent to a treatment center after the victim and at least two other boys came forward. In 1988, Fleming was no longer listed as a working priest by the New Hampshire diocese. He was no longer a minister. But the diocese isn’t the only organization that allowed Fleming to disappear.
According to documents from the New Hampshire Attorney General’s sex abuse report, the Hillsborough County Attorney’s Office cut a deal with Fleming in the 1980s. If he agreed to never be in a professional setting with children again, prosecutors would not bring indictments against him for sexual abuse.
But Fleming didn’t go away, he became a Unitarian Universalist Minister. He reportedly served at churches in West Chesterfield and Charlestown until his past was reported on by the Concord Monitor. Garabedian said the Church’s coverup is the main reason Fleming was able to become a minister again.
“The Bishop of the Diocese of Manchester just conveniently and quietly washed his hands of Fr. Fleming’s criminal activity instead of responsibly warning the public and calling the police,” Garabedian said. “One has to wonder if he sexually abused children when he became a Unitarian minister.”
The Unitarian Universalist Association for the New England region did not respond to a request for comment. The Manchester diocese issued a statement that it did contact authorities when the victims first came forward.
“With respect to then-Father Mark Fleming, the Diocese received a report of sexual abuse in 1983, removed him from ministry and made a report to the Commissioner of New Hampshire Health and Welfare Department (today the report would be made to DCYF),” the statement reads.
But Garabedian, who has represented scores of priest sexual abuse victims, said it is hard to take any official diocesan statement seriously after he’s seen decades of official coverup.
“It’s hard to believe the Catholic Church did not recognize the sexual abuse of children was wrong in the 1980s, but recognizes it now,” he said.