A well known and once well regarded Irish American priest in the Bronx is suing the Archdiocese of New York for libel. Charles Kavanagh claims that the sex abuse allegations made against him were false, and that church officials here knew it when they repeated them in public.
According to NBC in his court filing this week Kavanagh said his chief accuser had withdrawn the allegations made in 2002 that the priest had molested him when he was a teenager during a church trip to Washington, D.C.
'The statement was not true, and I apologize for it,' former accuser Daniel Donohue wrote in a sworn statement submitted to the federal court.
Donohue had previously claimed that Kavanaugh got into his bed in a Washington hotel room and had rubbed against him. Donohue had also claimed that when Kavanagh held his hands during prayer it made him uncomfortable.
'The pointed finger has come back. He has withdrawn the only allegation against Monsignor Kavanagh,' his attorney John Dearie told the court.
Kavanagh has fought tirelessly for the past ten years to clear his name. Originally he filed a counter lawsuit against Donohue but dropped it after Donohue openly admitted that his story about what happened 30 years ago was untrue.
Meanwhile Kavanagh was convicted at a church trial and ultimately kicked out of the church.
In May of this year Catholic Church spokesman Joseph Zwilling told the press that Kavanaugh had been removed from his duties because of 'multiple counts' of sexual abuse.
'That is a flat-out lie. There are not multiple counts of sexual abuse of a minor,' Kavanagh’s sister and attorney Ann Mandt told NBC. 'And that’s why we sued them. Because it is a lie.'
Responding to the new suit Zwilling told the press this week that church attorneys are currently reviewing the new defamation lawsuit. 'I stand by the truthfulness and accuracy of my May 1, 2012, statement,' Zwilling added.
Kavanaugh was formerly the vicar of development for the Catholic Church in New York and served for more than 40 years as a priest. His final post was as head of Saint Raymond's Church in the Bronx, before he was removed from his clerical work in a secret church trial.
For the last decade Kavanaugh has called the allegations against him false and is reportedly demanding a 'full and fair hearing' in public. His attorneys say they in part blame former Cardinal Egan, who they claimed was under scrutiny for allegations he had mishandled abuse charges by other priests when he led the church in Connecticut.
According to NBC Kavanagh lost his job, his home and his pension and now relies solely on the help and support of his friends in Florida where he now lives. Kavanaugh's lawsuit is seeking damages against the archdiocese and Zwilling, as well as the Catholic New York publication and its editor, which published Zwilling’s comments.
Meanwhile Kavanagh's attorneys claim after a decade of being falsely accused, he still wants his old job back.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.bunkerhill | Sep 25, 2012, 04:38 PM EDT
Our hearts go out to Monsignor Kavanaugh who dedicated his life to God and had to experience being called a pedophile. What a horrible experience for a man living his life for others. I agree with another poster that pedophiles found the church which was the perfect place for them, along with schools and other organizations that put them in touch with young children. They are truly sick, reprehensible people. However there seems to be new evidence that some pedophiles may have been abused as children, accepted it as normal behavior and passed it on. What a cruel world we live in.
pilib04 | Sep 24, 2012, 02:01 PM EDT
Thanks seano, my sentiments exactly.
pilib04 | Sep 24, 2012, 01:59 PM EDT
Good luck with that. No Catholic parish is going to want you. Take retirement in Florida. Most of us can't afford that. Somehow you can.
kubs | Sep 21, 2012, 10:56 PM EDT
RC church aside, this could be any institution or individual who can today be accused via this society's favorite which hunt . All the law & public opinion is on the accuser's side; none on the accused. Cotton Mather would be so pleased, never mind possible innocence. Hang them all.
cillowen | Sep 21, 2012, 09:16 PM EDT
the RC flock are left with the bill - democracy at work.
misneac | Sep 21, 2012, 07:43 PM EDT
The Catholic Church has badly handled all aspects of the child sex abuse allegations ,principally the phony charges constantly being levelled against priests who are totally innocent . Once a charge is made it is very difficult to defend ones reputation ,thus a very lucrative "compensation industry " has developed .
LORIEANN | Sep 21, 2012, 06:42 PM EDT
I think that if Fr. kavanaugh is innocent of these charges, he should be compensated by the Catholic Church and returned to his priestly duties..
merefalow | Sep 21, 2012, 06:29 PM EDT
one of the worst things a man could ever be accused of, especially if one is Innocent,this is where transparency and openness,whether of state or church should always be seen to operate,dream on.
seanomelb | Sep 21, 2012, 06:21 PM EDT
Another tome of bull from Jacer. If you wish to write a book jacer this is not the place to do it.
jacersagain | Sep 21, 2012, 05:12 PM EDT
(…more) Upon the Bishop’s arrival, the small monstrance door was seen to open, the Holy Host exited it, the gold monstrance fell to the ground but the Holy Host remained suspended in the air, exuding a bright light, according to the witnesses. The market square people realised something miraculous was happening and famously chanted the Italian equivalent of “Stay with us”. The Bishop, in prayer and hymn with other priests and monks who had now gathered (the event lasted some hours), held out a gold chalice and the Host descended gently into it. The chalice and Host were brought to Turin Cathedral by the Bishop, followed in procession by the hymn singing priests, monks and the huge market square crowd that witnessed the event. Since then and to this day, Turin is known as the ‘City of the Holy Eucharist’. A special tabernacle was made to house the Eucharistic Host of that event and while I didn’t at the time I was in Turin, I believe you can go and see it for yourself. Justice was finally delivered for the stolen Holy Eucharist in its gold monstrance, as I hope and pray it will be for Fr. Kavanagh. Ya’d wanna believe it… Miracles do happen to the most ordinary of people.
jacersagain | Sep 21, 2012, 05:05 PM EDT
(…more) After many misfortunes, the thief got rid of the monstrance, selling it to a dealer, who also had so much misfortune with it that he sold it on too. After a few similar exchanges of hands, one dealer eventually brought the monstrance still in its sack on the back of a donkey into Turin city on the 6th of June 1453. Outside the Church of St. Sylvester, in the wide-open market square Plaza beside the church, the donkey collapsed on the ground, thrashed around trying to get up, but it couldn't. In this frenzy, the monstrance fell out of the sack on the donkey's back and floated upwards to a height of about 12 feet above the ground and remained suspended in the air there, in full view of all the people in the market square for some time. A priest ran to the home of the Bishop of Turin, calling him to come immediately and see for himself. (More…)
jacersagain | Sep 21, 2012, 05:01 PM EDT
Funny peculiar but in mentioning thieves and church gold in response to TisEyerish below, I am reminded my visit to Turin in the company of other tourists and of the very famous story told to us of the thief who stole a gold monstrance from some Church in the 16th century with the Holy Eucharist still inside and stuck it inside a sack (true! Don’t all thieves carry sacks? Once, as a student working as a temporary Christmas postman, walking through a Dublin housing estate in the dark at 5am with a sack over my shoulder, on my way to deliver the Christmas cards, a police car screeched and pulled up alongside me. The policeman asked me “Now where are you coming from, Lad?”). Anyway, back to the Turin story… (More…)
jacersagain | Sep 21, 2012, 04:34 PM EDT
(… more) Gold in most Catholic churches is not easily accessed – otherwise thieves would have long emptied these churches! Often it is seen in the high ceilings of very old churches like St. Peter’s Basilica, the Church of Mary Maggiore, San Giovanni in Laterano and other churches in Rome and elsewhere in Italy and especially in Spain and Portugal, where devotion to Our Lady is part of daily life of the people. Almost all of the gold to be seen has been donated by wealthy families in past centuries, copying the Three Wise Men in giving the gift of gold to a baby in a stable; it was not bought by the Catholic Church per se. Paintings and statues in Churches were almost always commissioned of artists by wealthy families, as gifts to churches being newly-built back then, though some were commissioned by Popes – the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in St. Peter’s, for example (and what a treasure that is to behold!)
jacersagain | Sep 21, 2012, 04:32 PM EDT
While I would want to see proper justice delivered in any child abuse claim – false or true – I have to take issue with the aside claim of TisEyerish re so-called Church gold that could be sold. S/he forgets that most churches are ‘opulently’ decorated in the fashion one would do as in giving a worthy gift out of huge respect to a personal friend – in this case, Jesus Christ present in the Holy Tabernacles in Catholic Churches all around our world. Three Wise Men brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (sweet-smelling gluey resins from trees) to a simple stable in Bethlehem a couple of millennia ago. That is why gold is used in Catholic Churches and many Orthodox and Anglican Churches; most use all three - gold or gold-lined chalices for the Holy Eucharist, and frankincense and myrrh is mixed for incense, burned during Holy Benediction and at High Masses. Who better to gift gold and incense to other than the Most High? This is not opulence at all but humble gift-giving and to accuse the Church of having these “riches” and calling for selling them off is a bit rich of TisEyerish (More…)
PhlutiePhan | Sep 21, 2012, 03:28 PM EDT
If someone accuses everyone else of being a liar, maybe in fact he is the liar.
EphraimKibbey | Sep 21, 2012, 02:21 PM EDT
Sworn to secrecy, to protect the guilty and to vilify the innocent. Really Nice!
ptwatson | Sep 21, 2012, 01:17 PM EDT
I'm glad to hear Msgr. Kavanaugh is fighting back. Cardinal Egan was probably the worst Archbishop the Archdiosese of NY ever had. He was hated the the clergy as a whole and went after and destroyed a lot of good priests careers without getting all the facts etc.... if you look at it he made it his mission to go after anyone in the clergy who was close to Cardinal O'Connor who sent then Bishop Egan packing! Cadinal Dolan was/is was welcomed leader who knows compassion! I hope Msgr Kavanagh wins a his law suits and is reinsteated as a priest. Also in the artical you said "Kavanaugh's lawsuit is seeking damages against the archdiocese and Monsignor Zwilling, as well as the Catholic New York publication and its editor, which published Zwilling’s comments" Joe Zwilling is not a priest!!
SingleDonald | Sep 21, 2012, 12:28 PM EDT
I wish Father Charles Kavanagh the best! This is what often happens when accusations come out of the distant past. They prove to be unsubstantiated, and sometimes, as in this case, totally false! This priest should not be confused with Father James Kavanagh, whose book, "A Modern Priest Looks at his Outdated Church", came out in 1967. I particularly liked the chapter entitled, "The Rules of Courtship". It made a justified mockery of the Church's puritanical views on human sexuality.
eileenkny | Sep 21, 2012, 12:02 PM EDT
What century are we in? This sounds like the Salem witch trials. I sincerely hope that Fr. Kavanagh wins justice and a settlement from the Archdiocese, and, if it is truly what he wants, reinstatement. Mr. Zwilling has little credibility, as far as I'm concerned.
knockatee | Sep 21, 2012, 11:38 AM EDT
I think your headline is misleading. He hasn't exactly been vindicated yet; hopefully he will be if he didn't do what he is accused of but that will take a while.
eiriamach | Sep 21, 2012, 11:27 AM EDT
Too many unanswered questions in this story. Why would church officials of the Archdiocese of New York reveal-- or lie about-- the verdict in a SECRET trial under canon law? If they violated their secrecy oaths, why are THEY still in their church jobs? Is that because they didn't reveal the truth but lied instead, so their jobs are safe? Kavanaugh was never convicted of sex crimes or misdemeanors in a public civil court. He was defrocked and in effect "fired" as a result of a church trial with secret proceedings. The Church should maybe rethink the whole idea of "secret" trials that can end in public defamation!
ceceann | Sep 21, 2012, 11:03 AM EDT
The Lawyers are only interested in going after the deep pockets. What is the punishment for the false accuser who is the real culprit who stole this man's life? Where is the example for individuals who think that they can make a buck by making false allegations? Meanwhile, it's enemies never miss an opportunity to bash the church. As guilty as they have been in their past for covering up, it seems that now they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. It is the parishiners who ultimately pay.
BigDaddy | Sep 21, 2012, 10:39 AM EDT
In a church system that shuffled pedophiles with multiple accusations against them around like so many cards in a deck, they singled out this priest? But at least he's suing them as Jesus would have done.
djdudley | Sep 21, 2012, 09:57 AM EDT
You GO Fr Kavanaugh!!!!! I do hope you win big for all you have been through..
TisEyerish | Sep 21, 2012, 09:47 AM EDT
I hope that Father Kavanaugh wins, and wins BIG. Let the Church cash in some of the gold they have hoarded in the Vatican. So many have gotten away with this crime with little or no justice, yet an innocent man was hung out to dry. I have to say this...when I was in Ireland, I had to stop visiting churches, particularly those in large cities or towns, because of the opulence. I couldn't help but wonder how many of the poor could have been fed with the money used to paint frescos, supply high-quality altar, purchase and install the marble walls and columns, buy accoutrements, etc. It just made me sad. Of course, the same thing applies here in the US. Somehow, it just doesn't seem right.
hermitTalker | Sep 21, 2012, 09:47 AM EDT
A sad side-bar to this story is I can give you "name, rank and serial number" of many priests who were found guilty but innocent. One of the serious injustices from the fallout of the story is that bishops, and their staff, their lawyers and the media and the accusers and their lawyers (who made lots of cash from this story over the years) trampled over the civil rights, human rights, and reputations in Church law as well. Because they were hounded, had no spine, could care less, afraid of publicity, covered their career ambitions? Ask them. Eventually they will answer to Jesus, a more fearful thought than the New York Times or any prosecutor this side of the Great Divide.
joan1954 | Sep 21, 2012, 09:39 AM EDT
Isn't money the root of all evil. Sometimes I have wondered just how many allegations are true. Granted many are but how many lives were destroyed by lies? You can never take words back.