July 10, 2002

Rev. Kelley accused of abuse in third lawsuit

 By Kathleen A. Shaw, Telegram & Gazette Staff

A third lawsuit against the Diocese of Worcester has been filed in Hampden Superior Court by a woman who said she was sexually abused by the Rev. Robert E. Kelley when he was assigned to Notre Dame parish in Southbridge.

Rev. Kelley, a convicted child rapist, admitted in two previous depositions taken under oath in the 1990s that he sexually abused Jane Martin in 1972 in Southbridge when she was about age 8 or 9.

Ms. Martin, 41, who now lives in the Springfield area, said in her lawsuit that she was molested by Rev. Kelley at least 12 times between ages 8 and 14.

Lawyer Michael Ascher of Springfield said Ms. Martin reported the abuse to the Rev. Raymond J. Page, who was then Notre Dame's pastor. “He questioned her veracity and asked how she could suggest such a thing,” he said. “He dismissed it as the rantings of a 9-year-old,” Mr. Ascher said. The suit said Rev. Kelley proceeded to molest her for several more years.

The pastor later became Monsignor Page and was diocesan chancellor. He removed Rev. Kelley from his pastorship from Sacred Heart parish in Gardner in 1985 after another allegation of misconduct was made.

The lawsuits involving Rev. Kelley are now filed in three separate court jurisdictions. A civil suit can be filed in a Superior Court nearest to where at least one of the people bringing the suit lives.

Lawsuits involving Rev. Kelley, including two that were settled, involve 10 women who lived in Central Massachusetts at the time they said they were molested by the priest.

Five women with connections to St. Cecilia parish in Leominster have filed a civil suit in Middlesex Superior Court alleging abuse by Rev. Kelley when he was assigned there.

Two other women, one with connections to Notre Dame in Southbridge and another who was a member of St. Boniface parish in Lunenburg, filed a class-action civil suit in Worcester Superior Court.

Rev. Kelley, who lives in Worcester and works at a flower shop in Cambridge, has also been indicted by a Worcester grand jury on five charges of raping Heather Mackey of Tewksbury when she was a child. That case is pending.

During a 1990 deposition in a lawsuit brought by a Gardner woman who was raped by Rev. Kelley, he admitted to inappropriate touches of Ms. Martin. He was asked whether any instances of touching were brought to the attention of any other priest at Notre Dame. “I wouldn't dare tell anybody what I was up to,” he said.

In the later deposition in the lawsuit brought by Cyndi Desrosiers, now of Augusta, Maine, he was asked whom he sexually abused in 1972. “Someone who never came forward. I was not criminally charged for any of these things,” Rev. Kelley answered.

He was asked for the person's name.

“Jane Martin to the best of my recall,” he answered. She was “eight or nine” at the time, he replied to a question about her age.

He admitted to bringing her and her brother to a swimming pool at a motel in Sturbridge and sexually abusing her while she was in the water. He said her brother did not observe what he did. He did not register at the motel, but said the public was allowed to use the pool.

Rev. Kelley said he was age 30 at the time and was still a “virgin.” He defined virgin as never having had sexual intercourse with a woman.

In the depositions, Rev. Kelley described his abuse of her as “casual.”

According to the suit, Rev. Kelley gave Ms. Martin a Bible as a Christmas gift in 1973. The inscription read: “For Jane, a beautiful soul of great depth, purity and beauty, whose love I truly treasure.”

At another time, he gave her a book titled “Hope for the Flowers.” It bore the inscription: “To My Only Jane, Whose life, pure friendship, and innocent love, have helped me always to see hope.”

Mr. Ascher said this case is unusual because Rev. Kelley admitted under oath that he abused her. He has read three depositions in earlier suits and said the priest varies the number of times he molested Ms. Martin from three times to a dozen times.

Rev. Kelley has not functioned as a priest since 1986, but he was never defrocked.