Plymouth pastor placed on leave after allegations of sexual abuse surface

By Matt Rocheleau, Globe Correspondent

The longtime pastor of a Roman Catholic parish in Plymouth has been placed on leave after church leaders said they received an allegation that he sexually abused a child in the early 1980s when he was assigned to a different position.

The Archdiocese of Boston announced today that 62-year-old Rev. James E. Braley, pastor of the Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish since 2001, will remain on leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation by the archdiocese, which immediately informed law enforcement after receiving the allegation.

Nearly all of Braley’s assignments over the last 37 years have been in Massachusetts, and include chaplin to Archbishop Williams High School in Braintree from 1981 to 1986 and a six-year stint as associate pastor at St. Peter Parish in Cambridge that ended in 1981, according to Kellyanne Dignan, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese.

Dignan said church officials notified the state attorney general’s office and the local district attorney’s office of the allegations, but declined to give details of the allegation, including when the alleged abuse occurred or where.

“To protect the privacy of the individual who came forward and to preserve the integrity of the investigation, I cannot provide any additional information about the allegation we received,” she said.

Melissa Karpinsky, a spokeswoman for the state attorney general’s office, said she did not know whether the office had been notified of the allegation.

Cara O’Brien, a spokeswoman for Middlesex County District Attorney Gerard T. Leone, whose jurisdiction includes Cambridge, and David Traub, spokesman for the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office, which oversees Braintree, said their offices had not received notification of new allegations from the archdiocese. Nor have the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office or Plymouth Police, according to assistant district attorney Bridget Norton Middleton.

Braley’s leave bars him from ministering or presenting himself publicly as a priest, Dignan said. During his leave, he also can no longer live at the rectory, and his pay has been reduced to compensation “reflective of a priest who is not on active ministry,” she said.

Braley, commonly called “Father Jim,” was the third pastor at the Plymouth parish, according to longtime town resident Ann Wollman, an active parishioner since the parish was founded in 1982.

She said she did not attend Mass this weekend at the Plymouth church where, according to Dignan, archdiocesan officials informed parishioners of Braley’s leave.

“I can’t believe it. It’s got to be wrong,” Wollman said after she learned the news. “All I can say is it just doesn’t sound like the person that I know. I just don’t believe it. ”

Several other parishioners and parish staff declined to comment or did not return calls seeking comment today.

Since he was ordained in May 1975 at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, Braley has also been assigned to St. James in Salem from 1986 to 1990; St. Mary in Lynn from 1990 to 1994; Our Lady Star of Sea in Marblehead during 1994; St. Catherine of Siena in Norwood from 1994 to 2000; and he participated in the Priestly Renewal Program at Vatican II Institute in California from 2000 to 2001.

The Rev. William G. Williams, pastor of Saint Peter Parish in Plymouth has been named administrator in Braley’s absence and will be assisted by Fr. Jack Schatzel, the pastor emeritus of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, the archdiocese said.

“We remain committed to doing everything possible to ensure the safety and well-being of children and young people in our parishes and institutions,” Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley said in statement. “I am very grateful to Bishop John Dooher, who on my behalf visited the parishioners of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish to offer prayers and support. I know the faithful and the clergy of the Archdiocese join me in this pledge of prayerful support.”

The Archdiocese said it continues to make counseling and other services available to survivors, their families and parishes impacted by clergy sexual abuse and by allegations of abuse by members of the clergy. The support office can be reached at 781-794-2581.