WEST SPRINGFIELD (MA)
WGGB - WesternMassNews [Springfield MA]
July 6, 2026
By Kayleigh Hunter-Gasperini
A lawsuit filed last week alleges that two bishops with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Springfield sexually assaulted a young victim in West Springfield in the 1970s.
Our Lady of Providence, also known as “Brightside” in West Springfield, was where the alleged abuse took place.
The victim who filed the lawsuit said he was about four to five years old at the time of the abuse. He alleges that Bishop Christopher Weldon and Bishop Joseph Maguire assaulted him and coerced him into silence.
On or around 1973 or 1974, Weldon allegedly touched the boy inappropriately and told him he would go to hell if he said anything.
On a different occasion, the victim was confined to a closet as punishment when Maguire entered and sodomized him, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit, filed against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Springfield (RCBS) as a whole, says that the victim “will continue to suffer great pain of mind and body” due to the Defendant’s tortious conduct.
“The abuse described above robbed Plaintiff of the essence of his childhood,” the lawsuit reads.
The victim further alleges that sexual abuse of children was commonplace during Weldon’s and Maguire’s tenures.
“Sexual abuse of minors by clergy was so routine that it constituted a general practice or policy of the RCBS,” the lawsuit says. “Specifically, over seventy (70) priests who served the RCBS have been accused of sexual abuse of children.”
The Plaintiff is asking for compensatory damages for the physical and emotional injuries he allegedly endured.