Father Donald Joyce
Diocese of Charlotte (Oblates)
Ordained: 1958
Removed: 1997
Died: 2013
Assigned as Follows:
- Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church (Monroe, NC)
- Sacred Heart Catholic Mission (Wadesboro, NC)
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations against Father Donald Joyce:
Father Donald Joyce was ordained a priest of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate religious order in 1958, and served in the Diocese of Charlotte. According to media reports, in April 2002, a man reported that Father Joyce had sexually abused him as a minor from 1973 to 1976 at Sacred Heart Catholic Mission in Wadesboro. The alleged victim said that Father Joyce would give him alcohol and meals, and would take him on outings alone to earn his trust before touching him sexually.
In 2006, a second allegation of abuse was made in a lawsuit accusing Father Joyce of sexually abusing a minor boy in his Massachusetts parish from 1977 to 1979, starting when the boy was an 11 year old altar boy. The suit settled out of court and the victim was given a small settlement.
Father Joyce was removed from parish ministry in 1997 for reasons that have not been made public. He was working as the theology libraries’ director at an Oblates-run college library in San Antonio, Texas when his name was included on a list of accused priests in Massachusetts in 2011.
In 2019, as part of the Diocese of Charlotte’s historical file review, the Wadesboro allegation was referred to the Diocese’s Lay Review Board, which deemed the 2002 allegation against Joyce to be credible. His name now appears on the Diocese’s list of credibly accused priests.
Father Joyce died in 2013.
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