Wayne Priests Named On 'Credibly Accused' List

WAYNE, NJ — The journalism site ProPublica, a Patch Partner, recently released the most comprehensive list so far of Catholic clergy "credibly accused" of sexual abuse.

The list includes three accused abusers with ties to Wayne.

The searchable database — which includes nearly 200 priests accused from the dioceses of Metuchen, Newark, Trenton, Camden and Paterson — comes on the heels of various reports identifying hundreds of "predator" priests across the state.

Related: Full List Released Of NJ Catholic Clergy Accused Of Sex Assault

Here are the priests on the ProPublic list with ties to Wayne.

Charles Bradley

He was born in 1942, ordained in 1968 and has been removed from ministry, according to the database.

Assignment history:

• St. John Cathedral, Paterson
• Neumann House, Wayne
• Faculty, Paterson Catholic High School, Paterson
• Faculty/Chaplain, Bayley-Ellard High School, Madison
• Our Lady of Consolation, Wayne
• Faculty, DePaul Catholic High School, Wayne

John Heekin

He was born in 1937, ordained in 1963 and is now deceased.

Assignment history:

• St. Mary, Paterson
• St. Pius X, Montville
• St. Therese, Paterson
• Faculty, Bayley-Ellard High School, Madison
• Faculty, Pope Pius XII High School, Passaic
• Immaculate Conception, Franklin
• Holy Cross, Wayne

Francis Dennehy

He was born in 1925, ordained in 1950 and is now deceased.

Assignment history:

• Our Lady of Victories, Paterson
• Chaplain U.S. Navy
• Assumption, Morristown
• Chaplain, St. Joseph Hospital, Paterson
• St. Nicholas, Passaic
• St. Vincent DePaul, Stirling
• St. Therese, Paterson
• St. Pius X, Montville
• St. Thomas, Ogdensburg
• St. Christopher, Parsippany
• Immaculate Conception, Franklin
• Our Lady Queen of Peace Cathedral, Honolulu, Hawaii
• Chaplain, Wayne General Hospital and Chilton Hospital, Wayne

Along with the list, ProPublica outlined the challenges of identifying offenders long after such widespread abuse became known. The database is a collection of 178 lists released by U.S. dioceses and religious orders as of Jan. 20. There are still more than 40 dioceses and religious orders that have not released information, including five out of seven Florida dioceses.

New Jersey enacted a law last month that extends the statute of limitations in civil actions on sexual abuse claims, creating a two-year window to file cases for which the statute of limitations had previously expired. A number of law firms have announced they were filing lawsuits.

Attorneys from Rebenack, Aronow & Mascolo, LLP and Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC (PCVA) said they planned to file 38 lawsuits on behalf of dozens of abuse survivors.

The ProPublica project was prompted by a massive grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania that was described by Associated Press as the "biggest and most exhaustive ever" into priest sex abuse by an individual state. The investigation revealed many priests admitted to their actions and were allowed to continue in the ministry for years despite having confessed to molesting children.