The Archdiocese of Philadelphia will pay $3.5 million to settle a civil case alleging a now-deceased priest sexually assaulted a teenage boy nearly two decades ago, and church officials knew of similar reports about the priest dating back to the 1970s, attorneys for the victim announced Wednesday. The plaintiff was a 14-year-old student in religious classes at St. Katherine of Siena Parish in Wayne when the sexual assault occurred in 2006, his attorneys said. They said Monsignor John Close assaulted the boy after hearing his confession, the AP reports. The plaintiff, now 30, reported the episode in 2018. Many survivors of child sexual abuse do not report the abuse until years later.
Close was ordained in 1969 and was placed in a variety of parishes and schools until he was put on administrative leave, with priestly faculties restricted, in 2011. He retired in 2012 and died in 2018. Attorneys for the plaintiff say the archdiocese knew Close was a danger to children in the 1970s, after a priest reported teenage boys were sleeping overnight in Close's room. Close was reassigned. Other alleged victims have come forward, attorneys said. "We deeply regret the pain suffered by any survivor of child sexual abuse and have a sincere desire to help victims on their path to healing," Kenneth A. Gavin, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, said in a statement. The church hierarchy denies knowing about the plaintiff's allegation prior to Close's death.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called on the archdiocese to locate and assist any other potential victims of Close. In 2018, a grand jury found that hundreds of Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania molested more than 1,000 children—and possibly many more—since the 1940s, and senior church officials systematically covered up the abuse. The report put the number of abusive clergy at more than 300. In nearly all of the cases, the statute of limitations had run out, meaning criminal charges could not be filed. More than 100 of the priests are dead, and many others are retired or have been dismissed from the priesthood or put on leave.
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