Assignment Record– Rev. Mario Pezzotti, s.x.
Summary of Case: A native of Italy, Pezzotti is accused of sexually abusing at least three children during his time with the Xaverians in Holliston, Massachusetts beginning in 1959 and until the early 1970s. He later spent decades in Brazil working with Kayapo Indian children in the Amazon and supervising priests. He apologized to one of his Holliston victims in a note sometime before the victim came forward in 1993. Pezzotti returned to Italy in 2003, but went again to Brazil in 2008. This stay was shortened when the victim to whom Pezzotti had apologized for the abuse saw him with Kayapo children in an internet photo and complained to the Xaverians. Pezzotti was known in 2010 to be living and working at Xaverian headquarters in Parma, Italy.
Ordained: 1959
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| Start | Stop | Assignment | Town/Accusations | State | Position | Notes |
1959 Boston archbishop was Richard James Cushing (1944-1970), followed by Humberto Sousa Medeiros (1970-1983). |
1972 | Xaverian Missionary Fathers' Seminary | Holliston • A woman reported in 2002 that Pezzotti sexually abused her as a child in Holliston 30 years earlier. (Boston Herald |
MA | The 1971 and 1972 Directories index Pezzotti as at this seminary, but it does not list him as there in the Boston archdiocesan pages. | |
| 1959 | 1971 | Xaverian Missionary Faith High School | Holliston • Accused in a 1993 lawsuit of sexually and physically abusing a male student at this school. Pezzotti had written a note to the former student apologizing for the abuse. He also wrote that he had requested a post in Brazil to start a new life. (Boston Herald • A second person complained publicly in 1993 of having been molested as a child by Pezziotti in the late 1960s and early 1970s at this school. (U.S.News & World Report |
MA | Per news reports, this was a boarding school that closed in 1971. | |
| 1972 | 1974 | Missionarios Xaverianos | Belem | Brazil | Pezzotti lived and worked among the Kayapo Indians in the Amazon. He supervised priests and worked with children. |  |
1974 Milwaukee archbishop was William Edward Cousins (1958-1977), succeeded by Rembert George Weakland, O.S.B. (1977-2002). |
1978 | Xaverian Missionary Seminary | Franklin | WI | 1/6, 1/5, 1/8 "Very Rev." |
The 1978 Directory indexes Pezzotti as at this seminary, but it does not list him as there in the Milwaukee archdiocesan pages. |
| 1978 | 1980 | Pezzotti is not indexed in the 1979 or 1980 Directories. | ||||
1980 Paterson bishop was Frank Joseph Rodimer (1977-2004), followed by Arthur Joseph Serratelli (2004- ). |
2007 | Xaverian Missionary Fathers | Wayne | NJ | Although the Directories index Pezzotti as in NJ, he is listed in the Paterson diocesan pages throughout this period as in Brazil. | |
| 1980 | 2003 | Missionarios Xaverianos | Belem | Brazil | Pezzotti is not indexed in the Directories beyond 2007. | |
| 2003 | 2008 | Italy | Although he is listed in the Directories as in Brazil until 2007, Pezzotti reportedly left there in 2003 and "returned to Italy." (The Associated Press April 14, 2010) He is said to be from a city near Brescia, Italy. (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests June 9, 2010) |
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| 2008 | Missionarios Xaverianos | Belem | Brazil | Pezzotti went back to Brazil in 2008. He was returned to Italy after a few months because one of the victims who came forward in 1993 saw a photo of Pezzotti with children in Brazil on the internet and complained to the Church (The Associated Press April 14, 2010) | ||
| 2008 | 2010 | Xaverian Headquarters | Parma | Italy | Per news reports, Pezzotti was "tending to sick and elderly priests". |
Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1960-2007)
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This assignment record was last updated on September 11, 2010.