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: 24
Return to main database page. See abbreviations and posting policy. Send corrections.
Given name Rosemary Imbus. Included on the Diocese of Covington's list of those with substantiated allegation(s). Worked at Villa Madonna Academy 1955-1958. Dispensed from vows 6/3/1966. Went on to marry. Died 4/15/2005.
Named publicly as credibly accused by the Diocese of Orlando on its list 10/6/2021. The Official Catholic shows Ingram as in the Orlando diocese through 1987, after which he is not indexed until he reappears in the 1990 Directory as "on duty outside," without indicating where. By 1999 he is shown as assigned in the Diocese of Santa Rosa, CA, and seems to be absent from the Directory thereafter.
Retired. The Diocese announced 6/28/18 that Ipolito's name was added to its list of accused, and that he was on leave pending investigation. A lawsuit filed in 8/19 under the NY Child Victims Act claims Ipolito abused a teenage boy in Toronto in 1975. The priest allegedly had taken the boy to a Beach Boys concert, plied him with alcohol and molested him at a hotel. A second suit claimed Ipolito fondled a 13-year-old boy in 1981 or 1982 at St. Vincent de Paul in North Evans. Ipolito was removed from the diocesan payroll 5/1/20 as part of a bankruptcy agreement. A lawsuit in 6/20 against the Boy Scouts alleges abuse by Ipolito, who was a Scout leader. Ipolito denied all allegations. Reportedly in 7/21, Ipolito was refusing to participate in the diocese's monitoring program for priests against whom there were substantiated allegations. Sued the diocese in 4/22 for restoration of his full pension.
Civil suit filed against Isaias, Santa Fe archdiocese, Via Coeli, Greek Orthodox Church, and Estate of Fr. Charles Rourke in 1995. One man said he was sexually abused by Isaias in 1974. It is believed Isaias was treated at Via Coeli prior to time he abused plaintiff. Suit was settled and dismissed in 1996. Documents released by the Orange CA diocese show that in 1988 Isaias was the Director of Albuquerque Villa, a facility of the Servants of the Paraclete, and was also their Director of Aftercare. Included on Santa Fe archdiocese list of accused on 9/12/2017. Died in 2007. (This contradicts Santa Fe's list, which in 2017 noted him to be living.)
Named publicly as credibly accused by the St. Barbara Province Franciscans on its list in 9/2020. Accused in 2002 of abuse occurring in 1978 and 1979, while assigned to St. Boniface in San Francisco. He is noted to have lived outside of the order beginning in 1988, and to have been formally dismissed in 2016.
