SHREWSBURY - The Xaverian Brothers have released the names of six members of the order who served at St. John’s High School and have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors.
The letter was written to members of the St. John’s High School community and signed by Alex Zequeira, headmaster, and Christopher Creed, chairman of the board of trustees.
“We recognize this is difficult information to share, but we as a school community are committed to transparency as we believe it is the only way that survivors of abuse and the larger Catholic community can process and begin to heal from these egregious violations of trust,” they wrote.
The list was created by the Xaverian Brothers working with a retired FBI agent and includes the names of brothers who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors dating back to the early-1900s, the letter stated.
Of the brothers who were assigned to St. John’s and have allegations against them, there is one who is the subject of an allegation related to his service during his time at the high school, the letter stated.
The list, with the dates the individual served at St. John’s, includes the following:
Xaverian Brothers with a credible or established offense against a minor (anyone under the age of 18) who are current members and their years of service at the school:
• Brother Gabriel (Thomas Morrisey), 1979, 1987-1998.
He has been removed from ministry and is under a safety plan which restricts his access to minors, limits his freedom to travel alone, and includes having someone monitoring where he is at all times and meets with him weekly. The safety plan is reassessed annually.
Deceased or former Xaverian Brothers with a credible or established offense against a minor (anyone under the age of 18) and their years of service at the school:
• Brother Francis Jerome (William Burns), 1929, 1967. The allegation against Brother Francis is related to his service at St. John’s, according to the letter.
• Brother Ricardo (Albert Kerressey), 1949-57.
• Brother Alois (Donald O’Toole), 1964-66, 1976-89.
Deceased or former Xaverian Brothers with an allegation of an offense against a minor (anyone under the age of 18) that could not be fully investigated to determine credibility, but for which there is a reasonable possibility (semblance of truth) that the alleged offense occurred and their years of service at the school: • Brother Cosmas (Francis E. Dailey), 1907-08, 1918, 1925-30
• Brother John Augustine (John Sullivan), 1935-36
In addition to the brothers listed above, St. John’s is aware of established offenses against a minor inflicted by Passionist Brother Vincent Basile during the time he was assigned to St. John’s (1978-87). Once the school became aware of this offense, the matter was reported to civil authorities, he was immediately removed from ministry, and a counseling and support process for the victim was initiated.