Rev. William N. Cramer-Assignment

Rev. William N. Cramer

Ordained: 1977

Accused of abusing two young brothers in 1984. Their mother told the diocese, which then transferred him. Reported to police in 1985; convicted in 1988 and received three years probation. Each child received $38K in a civil suit. Worked as hospital chaplain beginning in 1991. Placed on leave 2002. Cramer hired a canon lawyer to fight his suspension. His name is included in the "Perversion Files," a national list of Boy Scout Leaders accused of being molesters which was released in October 2012. Included on th Paterson diocese's list of accused February 13, 2019.

Start	Stop	Assignment	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1977 Bishop was Frank Joseph Rodimer (1977-2004)	1985	Our Lady of the Lake	Sparta • Indicted in 1985 on charges of sexual assault and criminal sexual contact. He admitted to improperly touching two boys, ages 11 and 14. The boys were brothers and were being counseled in 1984 by Cramer, as their family was going through a divorce. (The Record April 24, 2002)	NJ	3/3 , 2/3, 2/2 Pastor was Rev. Charles C. Cassidy. Second priest1977-1978 was Rev. Robert G. Hoffmann, while Cramer was third. Cramer moved up to second priest thereafter. Third priest 1978-1982 was Patrick E. Brown, and 1982-1985 it was James Moss.	Parish had a school with 603-426 students.
		Our Lady of the Valley	Wayne	NJ		This assignment is per news reports. (The Record April 14, 2002)
	1985	Our Lady of Mount Carmel	Boonton	NJ		This assignment is per news reports. He resigned from this parish after being indicted by a grand jury. (The Record April 14, 2002)
1985	1991	Absent on Leave				In 1988 Cramer pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and was sentenced to three years probation. In a later civil trial, he was found liable. (The Record April 24, 2002)
1991	2002	St. Joseph Hospital	Paterson	NJ	Chaplain	Cramer was removed from this assignment in June 2002, due to the U.S. bishops' zero tolerance policy adopted at their Dallas meeting that month. (The Record June 20, 2002) Cramer hired a canon lawyer to fight his dismissal. (The Record July 9, 2002)
2002 Rodimer was replaced by Arthur Joseph Serratelli (2004- )	2005	Unassigned
2005	2007	Absent on Leave

Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: Kenedy & Sons, 1978-2007).

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy & Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.