Father George Callaghan
Diocese of Albany
Ordained: 1956
Died: 2008
Assigned as follows:
- 1956-1957: Augustinian College (Washington, DC)
- 1957-1959: Augustinian Preparatory Seminary (New York, NY)
- 1959-1964: Holy Rosary (Lawrence, MA)
- 1964-1966: St. Nicholas of Tolentine (New York, NY)
- 1966-1970: Immaculate Conception (Hoosick Falls, NY)
- 1970-1976: St. Augustine’s (Troy, NY)
- 1970-1976: Merrimack College (North Andover, MA)
- 1976-1978: St. Augustine’s (Lawrence, MA)
- 1978-1982: Holy Rosary (Lawrence, MA)
- 1982-1984: Church of the Assumption St. Mary’s (Lawrence, MA)
- 1984-1987: Austin Preparatory School (Reading, MA)
- 1984-1986: Villanova University (Villanova, PA)
Summary of Abuse Allegations against Father George Callaghan:
Fr. George Callaghan was ordained a priest of the Order of St. Augustine in 1956. He was assigned to parishes, high schools, and colleges and to multiple dioceses including Washington DC, New York, Boston, MA, and Philadelphia, PA.
According to media reports, in the early 1990s, Callaghan was sent from the Archdiocese of Boston to the Augustinian headquarters in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Later, he was reportedly moved to a local nursing home due to advanced Alzheimer’s disease.
In December 2002, Callaghan’s personnel file was released. It showed he had been accused of making sexual advances toward a 17-year-old boy at St. Mary’s in 1983. Callaghan was said to have been drinking Scotch whisky when he lured the boy to his rectory bedroom and told him that in order to be “closer to God” the boy needed to take off his clothes and lie down next to him. The boy is said to have fled. Several months later another Augustinian priest at the parish, is said to have molested the same boy for twenty-one consecutive nights in the priest’s camper during a cross-country trip. The Augustinians settled with the boy in 1992.
In 1993, the Augustinians also settled with a 22-year-old male employee of St. Mary’s, who claimed Callaghan sexually harassed him. The man said Callaghan made lewd comments and groped him. He received a $17,000 settlement. Records indicate Callaghan denied both claims.
His name was omitted from the Archdiocese of Boston’s 2011 list of clergy credibly accused of sex abuse of minors because he was an Augustinian Order priest.
Callaghan died in 2008.
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