The Fiend Who Ruined Lives

 

Monsignor Gerald Burns, the pedophile who ruined many lives

https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/pa-abuse-report.pdf

READ THIS AND WEEP

The Diocese of Scranton report begins on printed page 254.

The list of priests involved is on printed page 256.

Burns' assignments and summary are listed on printed pages 817 and 818. 

He was assigned to my parish (Saint John the Evangelist, Wilkes-Barre, PA) from 1953 to 1962. 

I was at that school from 1956 to 1964. I am appalled and disgusted to think that some of my classmates and/or family members may have been subjected to sexual abuse from Father Burns during that time. 

Then he was "reassigned" to Saint Dominic's from 1962 to 1968, where he continued his horrific crimes, until he was subsequently reassigned to four more parishes before retiring in 1994. 

He never admitted to his crimes, was never arrested, tried or jailed. He died in 1999. But the damage he caused to his victims continues to this day.

The story of how he impacted my own life (through abuse of a friend, not me) will, perhaps one day be the subject of another post.

Sad to say, Rev. Raymond Deviney also was assigned to St. John the Evangelist, Wilkes-Barre parish from 1969 to 1976, while I still lived in Wilkes-Barre. My parents worshiped the ground he walked on. See pages 827 and 828 for his summary.

Where was God?