Fr. Francis T. Gillespie
First named publicly as accused in the 8/14/2018 PA Grand Jury Report. Per the report, in 1988 a boy told the diocese in a letter that Gillespie had sexually abused him at St. Joseph’s in Girardville, where he was an altar boy, about age 14. He reportedly did not get a response. The same person contacted the diocese again in 2003. His younger brother told the diocese in 2002 that, when he was about age 10 at St. Joseph’s, Gillespie began sexually abusing him. The priest’s modus operandi included having altar boys weighed and measured unclothed. One accuser said Gillespie would dress him in costumes, take his picture, then undress him. He said Gillespie had him drink alcohol and cough medicine, and that the abuse included oral sex. Removed in 2002. Died in 2017. Included on the diocese’s 8/19/2018 list of credibly accused.
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