Fr. Lawrence Joseph Lovell

Order: CMF
Ordained: 1951
Status: Convicted

Diocese: Archdiocese of Los Angeles CA

“Larry.” Convicted in 1986 in Los Angeles for abuse of a boy, age 14; sentenced to three years probation. Convicted in 2004 for abuse of several boys in the 1970s-1980s in Phoenix. Sentenced to 14 years in prison. Placed on leave in 1985. Laicized in 1992. Married a woman with three boys in 1995. She knew he had been a priest but not of past allegations, until his arrest in 2003. He was a counselor and worked for the University of NM health center. Civil suits filed in 1996 and in 12/2003. Included on the L.A. archdiocese’s list 2/10/2004. Limited personnel files released in 1/2013. Suit filed under the CA Child Victims Act; settled with L.A. archdiocese, Lovell and the Claretians in 1/2020 for $1.9M. Plaintiff alleged abuse as an altar boy, ages 9-11, in 1982-1984. He said he told church officials when he was age 15 or 16. Included on the Phoenix diocese’s list 10/29/2019. Lovell was released from prison in 5/2021. Included 5/19/2021 on the Santa Fe archdiocese’s list; was at Via Coeli in Jemez Springs in 1989.  Laicized, per the L.A. archdiocese’s list in 12/2021. Included in the 5/23/2023 IL Attorney General’s Report, which notes at least 12 “reported survivors.”


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