Fr. Joseph Gorecki
Diocese of Norwich
Ordained: 1959
Died: 1988
Assigned as follows:
- 1960-1964: St. Cyril & Methodius (Bridgeport, CT)
- 1965-1966: Outside of Diocese
- 1967-1970: St. Joseph (Shelton, CT)
- 1971: St. Theresa (Trumbull, CT)
- 1972-1973: Holy Name (Stamford, CT)
- 1974: Assumption (Westport, CT)
- 1975: St. Vincent’s Hospital (Bridgeport, CT)
- 1976-1978: St. Mary (Norwalk, CT)
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations against Fr. Joseph Gorecki:
Fr. Joseph Gorecki, who served in the Diocese of Norwich. According to media reports, in 1995, Gorecki was accused of molesting two minors over several years. A civil suit was filed on behalf of the alleged victims. The details of the alleged abuse are unknown; however, by 1999 five more plaintiffs joined the suit. The suit was settled in March 2001, when the Diocese of Bridgeport settled a series of lawsuits filed by 26 plaintiffs who allege child sexual abuse by six priests who worked in the diocese. Fr. Gorecki was among the accused.
In 2002 more than 25 former altar boys and members of Catholic youth organizations alleged sexual abuse by 10 priests in the Diocese of Bridgeport. Gorecki was among the accused.
The Diocese of Bridgeport agreed to pay $21 million in 2003 to 40 individuals who allege that they were sexually abused by 16 diocesan priests. Gorecki was one of the accused clergy members named in the settlement. One of the accusers claims that Gorecki sexually abused him over a three-year period in the early 1960’s beginning when he was six years old. When the boy was in fourth grade, he told his mother about the abuse. She reported the abuse to a nun at St. Cyril & Methodius, and shortly thereafter, Fr. Gorecki was “gone.”
Another lawsuit was filed in 2006 by a man who says he was sexually abused by Fr. Gorecki and a landscaper who worked at St. Theresa in Trumbull, CT. The alleged incident occurred in the winter of 1971 in the boy’s bathroom at St. Theresa’s school. The boy was 12 years old at the time of the incident. The Diocese of Bridgeport reached a settlement with the victim’s family in 2011.
According to a 2019 report commissioned by the Diocese of Bridgeport, Fr. Joseph Gorecki is accused of child sexual abuse involving 20 minors ages 7-17. The alleged abuse occurred between 1960-1978.
His name was included in the Diocese of Norwich’s 2019 list of credibly accused clergy under the heading “priests who served in the Diocese of Norwich who had allegations in other places but not it the Diocese of Norwich. Gorecki was also publicly named on the Diocese of Bridgeport’s list of credibly accused in March 2019.
Gorecki died in 1988.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Norwich in Connecticut. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Connecticut, contact our office today. In July 2021, the Norwich Diocese filed for federal bankruptcy protection. The Court will resolve all claims of sexual abuse in this process but strict filing deadlines will apply and no late claims will be considered, so contact us today. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Connecticut and nationwide. We can help.
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