A story in today’s San Francisco Chronicle reveals that Patrick Joseph McCabe, a former Catholic priest who led Eureka’s St. Joseph Parish in the early 1980s, has been charged with sexually assaulting boys in his native Ireland.
McCabe, now 74, was assigned to the Eureka church in 1983 by now-deceased Bishop Mark Hurley of Santa Rosa, despite having been diagnosed the previous year as a pedophile. According to the Chronicle, McCabe’s transfer to the U.S. may have been motivated by allegations that he abused young boys in Dublin, Ireland, from 1973 to 1981.
According to an Irish court report on priest abuse, McCabe was removed from St. Joseph Parish after “stories of inappropriate conduct began to emerge.” The context leaves it unclear whether these “stories” concerned McCabe’s past or involved new allegations.
McCabe is charged with nine counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted indecent assault. He’s currently being held in an Alameda jail awaiting extradition to Ireland.
This article appears in Mega-village.
I hope that any victims from St. Joseph’s will contact local authorities. If they need help and support, it is available through SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
Melanie Sakoda
East Bay SNAP Leader
925-708-6175
melanie@pokrov.org
http://www.snapnetwork.org/
Toll-Free Phone
1-877-SNAPHEALS
(1-877-762-7432)