The Archdiocese of Philadelphia was hit with two more sex-abuse lawsuits in the past two weeks, bringing the number of suits in just the past month to four.
Delaware County resident Francis Finnegan filed suit March 16 against the Archdiocese and several current and former high-ranking officials, alleging a priest sexually abused him in the late 1960s and church officials covered up the crime. On March 21, an Arizona man also filed suit, accusing a priest who was also named in one of the other recently filed suits.
Archdiocese director of communications Donna Farrell said the Archdiocese was not able to comment on the pending litigation.
In his suit, Finnegan said the Rev. John Kline assaulted him between 1968-69 when he was assigned to St. Francis Xavier Parish. Finnegan said Kline was a close friend of his family and the abuse took place when the priest went on vacation with the family.
Finnegan, 49, said he repressed the memories of the encounter until three years ago. In a press conference this week, he said he’d contacted the Archdiocese Victims Assistance office after acknowledging the abuse and heard back only once from a staffer in the ensuing three years.
Attorney Marci Hamilton, who is representing the plaintiffs in all four cases, said Kline allegedly also abused Finnegan’s brother.
Although Kline died in the mid-’90s, Hamilton said the priest’s alleged crimes, and the Archdiocese’s failure to properly address abuse claims, had long-lasting effects on the family.
“Frank does not want another child hurt by the Archdiocese’s cover up,” Hamilton said in an email to PGN. “His brother Jack was abused before he was and as a result pulled away from the family. They lost decades.”
In this week’s complaint, filed Monday, a man only identified as John Doe alleges that Monsignor John Gillespie abused him from 1988-91 when he was a student at Our Lady of Calvary. Gillespie died in 2008.
The suit said Gillespie attended sex-abuse treatment before 1991 but continued to have Archdiocesan-approved contact with children.
The late monsignor was also accused by a Delaware man who sued the Archdiocese earlier this month, charging Gillespie assaulted him from 1994-97, also at Calvary.
Gillespie resigned in 2000 and was named in a 2005 grand-jury report, which referenced complaints dating to the 1950s, although no charges were brought against him.
The suits filed this month came shortly after the district attorney released a grand-jury report that resulted in the arrests of three current and former Archdiocesan priests and one lay teacher for sex abuse, as well as Monsignor William Lynn, who formerly oversaw the investigation of sex-abuse complaints.
Among the parties named as defendants in both recent suits are the Archdiocese, Lynn, former Archbishop Anthony Bevilacqua and current Archbishop Justin Rigali.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].