Woman sues Oblates, claiming she was raped as child by Catholic priest in 1960
A woman claiming to have been raped by a Catholic priest more than 60 years ago has filed a lawsuit against the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales headquartered in Wilmington.
Joyce Harper, in her lawsuit, claims she was raped in 1960 by the Rev. George A. Mahoney, who as a member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales served in different locations, including as principal of Salesianum School in Wilmington from 1931 to 1937.
"Mahoney was employed recklessly despite the fact that the defendants had prior actual knowledge that he was physically abusive and a danger to students and that they owed a duty of care to protect Plaintiff from him," said the lawsuit filed in Delaware Superior Court by attorneys Thomas S. Neuberger and Raeann Warner.
The Oblates of St. Francis de Sales did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Thursday.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday afternoon under Maryland's Child Victims Act of 2023 — which has eliminated the statute of limitations for sexual abuse cases in that state. This lawsuit comes as Delaware lawmakers look to amend the state's statute of limitations laws involving civil claims based on sexual abuse of minors.
Like many survivors of sexual abuse, Harper still suffers from the incident, Neuberger said.
"To this day I have flashbacks of the abuse I endured, and especially when I see a young girl," Harper said in a statement provided by her attorney.
The 73-year-old woman added that she's lost her religious faith and struggles to trust.
"I always thought all men were only interested in me for sex. Throughout my life I've had no trust in men," she said. "I have never handled pressure or anxiety of any kind well and go into panic mode fast, much to the dismay of my husband while he is driving."
The six-count civil lawsuit claims, among other things, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and aid and abetting on behalf of the Oblates. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages and other relief.
Changes to statute of limitations laws
The Wilmington-based Oblates operate in the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, which oversees schools and churches in Delaware and Maryland's Eastern Shore — where Harper's lawyers said the rape occurred. Because of that, Harper's lawyers have filed a lawsuit under the relatively new act.
"Two Maryland lower courts have ruled that the Act is constitutional, and another just ruled that it is not," Neuberger said. "That question will be settled by the Maryland Supreme Court."
Several states have enacted similar laws following the Boston revelations in 2002 that resulted in the prosecutions of Catholic priests and forced the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests into the light.
Delaware lawmakers are working to amend the state's law that prevents some survivors of child sex abuse from filing a civil lawsuit against their abusers. If this bill were to pass, it would allow survivors to file lawsuits against different organizations where this has been a problem.
"This has nothing to do with the Church," said Timothy Dukes, R-Laurel, the prime sponsor of House Bill 417. "This is about protecting the most vulnerable in our state which are our children."
Abuse allegations: These men were accused of sexual assault while working with Delaware Boy Scouts
In 2007, prompted partially by disclosures of sex abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, state lawmakers passed the Delaware Child Victims Act, which did away with the two-year statute of limitations for child sex abuse moving forward.
It also opened up a special window for old claims that were previously time-barred. The window, however, closed two years later.
"That two-year window closed in July 2009," Dukes said. "And the tragedy is that sexual abuse has not stopped."
Dukes is working to pass the bill before the end of this session this month. The bill is sponsored mostly by GOP members and one Democrat — Speaker of the House Valerie Longhurst.
"If it doesn't get to the House and Senate, it'd be one of the first bills that I run in January," Dukes said referring to when the next session starts.
Maryland's Child Victims Act
Maryland's Child Victims Act took effect months after a report from that state's Office of the Attorney General found more than 150 Catholic priests and clergy members associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore were accused of "horrific and repeated" sexual abuse of at least 600 children since the 1940s.
The redacted report, released during Holy Week in 2022, listed every current or former clergy member or employee of the archdiocese who was ever credibly accused of sexual abuse of a child between the 1940s and 2002, according to USA Today. The list is based on hundreds of thousands of documents obtained through subpoenas of church records and interviews with hundreds of victims and witnesses, according to the attorney general.
"The incontrovertible history uncovered by this investigation is one of pervasive and persistent abuse by priests and other Archdiocese personnel," the report reads. "It is also a history of repeated dismissal or cover-up of that abuse by the Catholic Church hierarchy."
Mahoney was not listed in that report.
Under the Delaware Child Victims Act of 2007, the Oblates were sued at least 41 times by victims of their predator priests. A list of 12 known pedophile priests was admitted by the Oblates at that time and Mahoney is not on that list either, according to Neuberger.
'You will go to hell'
Harper was born in 1950 in Queen Anne's County on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
Raised Catholic, Harper attended Mary Our Mother of Sorrows Church in Centerville, Maryland, and later St. Peter the Apostle Church in Queenstown, Maryland — two longtime historic Eastern Shore churches which, according to the lawsuit, have merged into one parish.
Mahoney, after years of transfers by the Oblates according to the lawsuit, was assigned to Mary Our Mother of Sorrows and St. Peter the Apostle churches from 1956 to 1969.
While pastor of Mary Our Mother of Sorrows, the lawsuit says, a trust was developed in Mahoney by Harper, who would often help with bake sales, bingo and church dinners.
After one Sunday Mass in 1960, Mahoney asked four 10-year-old girls to help him count the offering money.
Harper and another girl, according to the lawsuit, were separately taken into Mahoney's bedroom where he forced oral sex on them.
"As often happens in such cases," the lawsuit says, "plaintiff then was threatened and told never to tell anyone what happened because, in his words, 'If you tell anyone about this you will go to HELL.'"
That fear lasted through high school.
Reported rape to problem priest
The year following Mahoney's death in 1971, the lawsuit claims, Harper reported the rape to the Rev. Edward Carley — "a notorious Diocese of Wilmington priest."
Carley, who died in 1998, has been named in at least three other lawsuits claiming he would lure boys by flashing large amounts of money, giving them gifts and alcohol and allowing them to drive his car.
"Carley refused to report the incident, and protected Mahoney and denied that any priest would ever do such a thing to any child (not surprising advice from a serial child rapist)," the lawsuit said.
Send tips or story ideas to Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Woman suing Oblates claims Catholic priest raped her when she was 10
