BishopAccountability.org has launched a
project to gather and post the assignment records of every U.S. Catholic priest who has been
accused of sexual abuse since 1940, so that vulnerable communities can be identified and
bishops' transfer policies can be determined.
See below for a brief description of assignment records and their importance, easy ways that you can help with this project, and our initial list of assignment records. For a more detailed account of assignment record research and how you can volunteer, see our guide.
Assignment Records: Why They Are Important
An assignment record lists all the
diocesan and parish appointments of a priest, including telltale periods of sick leave. A detailed
assignment record, like this assignment
record of John Geoghan created by the Boston Globe, identifies populations that have
been placed at risk, and is also cross-referenced with a list of accusations, so that the transfer
policies of the priest's bishops can be evaluated. By identifying a priests' seminary class and the
colleagues with whom he has worked, an assigment record can also begin to identify the circle of
colleagues who kept the priest's activities secret and who might even have been involved in the
abuse themselves.
Assignment records are all around us:
* Newspaper
accounts of the crisis
* Diocesan
records
* Investigative
files
* Obituaries and
other old newspaper reports
But these records are dispersed and difficult to find, and
complete assignment records for most accused priests are not publicly available. We urge the U.S.
bishops to publish detailed assignment records with treatment episodes and accusation dates for
every abuser. In the meantime, we are undertaking this work of research and collection ourselves.
See our initial
collection of assignment records below.
Volunteering
for the Assignment Record Project
Please send us any assignment records that
know about or come across:
* In your daily newspaper reading
* In your personal experience, if
you are a survivor of abuse
* In the research that you've done, if you are a lawyer or a reporter
working in this area
If you would like to join the Service Record Project as a volunteer --
for a few hours, or a few hours per week, or anything in between -- please read our guide to
service record research, and email us
to let us know you're interested. This is work that you can do at a local Catholic college library
or at most central city libraries, and you can email, snail mail, or even phone us the
results.
List of Assignment Records
The staff at
BishopAccountability.org has begun to assemble a library of assignment records for accused priests
and others who figure in the crisis.Some we have developed ourselves from the Official
Catholic Directory, diocesan documents, and investigative reports. Others were created by
lawyers and investigative reporters. Others were created by the dioceses themselves and relinquished
under subpoena, or were prepared by the dioceses in response to investigation by law enforcement.
Viewed by Last Name:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Total Individuals: 223
Return to main database page. See abbreviations and posting policy. Send corrections.
Gaskin's name is included in 10/21 on the Franciscans' Holy Name Province's list of those with substantiated allegations against them of child sexual abuse. No details provided as to when or where the abuse occurred. He died in 2010. (Placing him for now in the New York archdiocese, where the Province is based.)
Diocese: Diocese of Providence RI
Diocese: Diocese of Helena MT
Diocese: Archdiocese of Santa Fe NM
Diocese: Archdiocese of Los Angeles CA
Diocese: Archdiocese of Washington DC and MD
Accused in a lawsuit filed in 7/21 under the NY Child Victims Act of sexually abusing a boy beginning when the boy was age 15, from 1993 through 1998. The boy was a student at St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School, where Garisto was reportedly a biology teacher in the late 1980s and 1990, and a vice-principal and academic dean 1996-1998. Garisto's accuser claims that the priest started grooming him when he was in elementary school and that, when he left the high school after sophomore year, Garisto pursued him at his father's house in PA.
Diocese: Diocese of Spokane WA
Named publicly as credibly accused by the Diocese of Fresno on its list in 8/21. His faculties were revoked five years after his 1935 ordination. He reportedly left the diocese in 1941 without permission and died in 1953.
Named publicly as accused by the Richmond diocese on its list 2/13/19. Abuse allegedly occurring in the late 1970s at a Richmond parish was reported in 1987. Removed. Reportedly "permanently dismissed from ministry" in 2004. Included in 12/19 on the Diocese of Charlotte's list of credibly accused.
Accused in a lawsuit filed in 5/21 under the NY Child Victims Act of sexually abusing a 9-year-old in 1976-77 at St. Athanasius in the Bronx. Gigante's accuser claims the priest forced him to perform oral sex during bible study.
In 2002 a woman reported to the diocese that, beginning on the day of her First Communion in the late 1960s when she was about age 8, and repeatedly until she was 12, Gill sexually abused her. Gill was the "family priest," assigned to St. Charles in Pittsfield. She alleged that the abuse involved groping and fondling and would take place at family gatherings such as picnics, trips to the beach and sleepovers. She received a settlement from the diocese in 2008. The diocese told her that another woman had come forward in 1992 claiming that she was abused by Gill at age 15. Gill died in 1995. Reportedly in 8/21 a parishioner confronted Gill in 1977 after a 14-year-old girl told him that Gill was molesting her in his rectory bedroom at St. Charles. The parishioner informed the senior priest at the parish. Gill was soon transferred to a parish in Brimfield. In 8/21 the diocese stated that it had received three complaints of child sexual abuse by Gill.
Removed by the Jesuits from ministry 9/29/21 pending an investigation of an allegation that he sexually abused a minor on the mid-to-late 1990s, while pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption in Charlotte. His accuser was a student at the parish school during the time in question. Gillespie left the Charlotte diocese in 2002 for the Diocese of Raleigh until 2008, then to the Diocese of Charleston, SC., returning in 1/21 to Raleigh.
Diocese: Diocese of Brooklyn NY
Diocese: Archdiocese of Boston MA
Diocese: Archdiocese of New Orleans LA
Diocese: Diocese of Salt Lake City UT
Accused in a lawsuit filed in 2021 under the NY Child Victims Act of sexually abusing a boy over two years at St. Rita's in Staten Island, beginning in 1977 when the boy was age 9. Per the suit, the boy was forced to wash the priest's feet and genitals with holy water, and to perform oral sex on him. Gregory denied the allegations.
In 7/21 the diocese announced that it had been notified of a claim filed under the NY Child Victims Act that Grosz sexually assaulted a 15-year-old boy 1990. The abuse allegedly occurred at a reception following a confirmation service at St. Brigid in Bergen. The plaintiff also accused Rev. Richard Keppeler, and said he was planning to disclose his abuse by Keppeler to Grosz, until he heard Grosz comment to Keppeler as he (the boy) approached the altar about his (the boy's) good looks. Grosz was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the diocese in 1989 and retired in 2020. He denied the allegations. He took leave from active ministry pending an investigation.
Diocese: Archdiocese of New Orleans LA
Diocese: Diocese of Cleveland OH
Diocese: Archdiocese of Los Angeles CA
