Archdiocese of Philadelphia agrees to $3.5 million settlement in priest sexual assault lawsuit

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia will pay $3.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that one of its priests sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy in Delaware County nearly two decades ago.

Filed in 2020, the lawsuit alleges that Pastor John Close raped the boy at St. Katharine’s of Siena in Wayne in 2006. The plaintiff, whose name was withheld in court filings, was attending a Confraternity of Christian Doctrine program there, and Close was the head of the parish.

During a class, the boy became upset, fearing eternal damnation. He was sent to Close’s office, the pastor took his confession, and then raped him, according to the lawsuit. Afterward, the lawsuit says, Close told the boy that he was absolved of his sins, but he would be eternally damned if he told anyone about the assault.

Close, who was ordained in 1969, worked at several parishes and Catholic schools in the region throughout his 42 years in the ministry, including Christ the King parish, Cardinal O’Hara High School, Archbishop Wood High School, and the Cathedral of Basilica Saints Peter and Paul. He was placed on administrative leave in 2011 in connection with the reinvestigation of another alleged case and retired the following year. He died in 2018.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia settled the case shortly before it was to go to trial. It is a rare sexual assault case against the organization for which a settlement amount is known. The alleged victim, lawyer David Inscho said, wanted the amount to be known.

“I’m very proud of my client and his resolve in being able to hold the Diocese accountable,” Inscho said. “It is important that these survivors of child sexual abuse know they have a voice and can come forward.”

Spokesperson Kenneth A. Gavin said in a statement that the archdiocese “acknowledges settlement in this matter and the resolution it brings.” He added that the organization had no knowledge of the allegations against Close until the plaintiff’s lawyers reported them in July 2019, after the pastor’s death.

“In accordance with policy, the archdiocese reported the allegation to law enforcement,” the archdiocese said.

The plaintiff, now 31, initially spoke about the alleged assault to family and therapists in 2018, court documents indicate. The documents say he still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse issues, and other effects.

The lawsuit argued that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was notified of a pattern of behavior from Close that put children in danger as early as 1976. That year, a pastor at Blessed John Neumann parish in Bryn Mawr (now known as St. John Neumann parish) reported that Close had teenage boys in his room at the rectory at odd hours, including overnight. As a result, Close was transferred to another parish, and “the archdiocese did not warn that next parish of this past behavior,” according to court documents.

Another alleged victim came forward several times starting in the late 1990s, reporting that Close had sexually abused him in 1969 when he was an altar boy at Christ the King parish in Philadelphia. The Archdiocesan Review Board investigated but could not substantiate the allegation, and it was dismissed, court documents say.

In 2011, following the release of a second scathing grand jury report that accused the church hierarchy of harboring more than two dozen priests suspected of abuse, a third alleged victim of Close came forward. That person said Close sexually assaulted him while he was a student at Archbishop Wood High School in Warminster in the early 1990s, when Close was the principal. The Archdiocesan Review Board again found the accusations could not be substantiated.

According to court documents, the archdiocese learned of at least two additional allegations. A woman in 2011 reported that a friend had told her that Close “messed around” with him at Cardinal O’Hara High School in Springfield in the 1970s. The review board found this to be unsubstantiated. And in 2014, a boy alleged that Close sexually abused him at Christ the King in the 1970s, but archdiocesan investigators were unable to make contact with the boy, court documents said.

“With today’s announcement, the archdiocese reaffirms its longstanding commitment to preventing child abuse, protecting the young people entrusted to its care, and providing holistic means of compassionate support for those who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of our clergy,” Gavin said in a statement. “We deeply regret the pain suffered by any survivor of child sexual abuse and have a sincere desire to help victims on their path to healing.”

Inscho said the settlement “holds the archdiocese accountable for failing to protect our client and other children.”

“Through litigation, we were able to expose that the archdiocese protected Father Close despite multiple reports of inappropriate behavior with children,” Inscho said. “The archdiocese’s handling of allegations against Close, through secretive and biased investigations, allowed him to remain in ministry and assault our client.”

In 2018, Inscho’s law firm, Kline & Specter, secured what is considered to be the largest civil settlement from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in the case of the late Sean McIlmail. The estate of McIlmail, who died in 2013, alleged that now-defrocked priest Robert L. Brennan abused the boy for four years at Resurrection of Our Lord parish in Philadelphia, starting in 1998 when he was 11. Settlement figures were not publicly disclosed.

Brennan was sentenced to five years probation last year for lying to FBI agents who asked him whether he knew McIlmail or McIlmail’s family.

Also last year, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia reported that it paid $78.5 million in clergy sex abuse reparations through a reconciliation program that was launched in 2018 and concluded last summer.