SAN DIEGO (CA)
The San Diego Union-Tribune
November 14, 2018
By Peter Rowe
The Rev. James Burson, a Catholic priest now living in San Diego County, has been accused of molesting a Buffalo, N.Y., high school student in the 1970s.
Burson recently was added to the Diocese of Buffalo’s list of priests credibly accused of sexual misconduct. The alleged molestation involved a boy at Cardinal Dougherty High School in Buffalo in 1979.
Moving from Buffalo to San Diego around 1996, Burson initially worked as a chaplain at Alvarado, Grossmont and Kaiser hospitals. He also served as a priest at San Diego’s Blessed Sacrament parish until his retirement on July 1, 2009.
Then he moved to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Carlsbad. As recently as Nov. 4, the parish bulletin listed him “in residence.” However, a Diocese of San Diego spokesman said that poor health caused him to enter a board and care facility last year.
At Cardinal Dougherty, “there were multiple incidents of abuse,” said Mike Reck, a lawyer in the Los Angeles office of Jeff Anderson & Associates. “There are probably survivors that need to know about this.”
The Diocese of San Diego has received no complaints about Burson, a diocesan spokesperson said.
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