Fr. James Vincent Fitzgerald

Order: OMI
Ordained: 1950
Status: Settled

Died: 09/7/2009
Diocese: Diocese of Sioux Falls SD

Also known as James V. Fitzgerald. Died 9/07/2009. Accused in a in 2010 lawsuit of abuse at Tekakwitha Indian Mission, Sisseton SD. A man and woman alleged sexual abuse as children in the late 1960s. Worked in the Duluth diocese off and on 1957-1983; also Crookston and New Ulm. Suits filed 11/19/2013 and 2/2014. One accuser known in Crookston. Named on the 12/31/2013 Duluth list. Included on New Ulm list released by Attorney Jeff Anderson 8/04/2014. Names from 1/2014 deposition of Rev. Francis Garvey, former New Ulm official. Judge ordered Crookston diocese in 8/2015 to turn over to “John Doe 19” all records of sexual abuse by priests prior to 1985. Doe 19 claimed sexual abuse as boy by Fitzgerald in the mid-1980s in Naytahwaush MN, on the White Earth Indian Reservation. In 11/2014 a jury awarded $8.1M to a man alleging abuse as a boy in 1978 in the Duluth diocese; he had met Fitzgerald in the New Ulm diocese. Included on the order’s list 7/6/2015. Name released in 3/2016 by New Ulm. At least 17 accusers; may be dozens, per attorney. Settlement with Doe 19 in 4/2016. On the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese’s list updated 4/1/2019. On the Belleville diocese’s list 9/20/2022. Included in the 5/23/2023 IL Attorney General’s Report.


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