THAT'S WHAT ST. WILLIAMS PARISH AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WOULD WANT RIGHT?
LEGAL REPRESENTATION: If you have been sexually abused by a Clergy member contact the Law Offices of Mitchell Garabedian. The Law Offices of Mitchell Garabedian represent sex abuse victims and survivors of sexual abuse and they will give you a free consultation. Mitchell Garabedian is an internationally recognized attorney and advocate for victims and survivors of sexual abuse. As a result of his groundbreaking legal work in the Father John J. Geoghan child sexual abuse cases, Attorney Mitchell Garabedian was portrayed by Stanley Tucci in the 2016 Academy Award Winning best picture “Spotlight.” Anyone who cares about the victims of pedophilia by the Catholic Church and its pedophile priests must watch the movie Spotlight.
After being convicted as a child molester, Father John J. Geoghan was sentenced to a 10 year prison sentence and was killed in prison in 2003, by inmate Joseph Druce, who was enraged by Father Geoghan's crimes against children. Joseph Druce also had been sexually abused by a church official when he was eight (8) years old. This no doubt was the true reason why he beat and strangled Father Geoghan to death.
Disclaimer: This website is not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with the Law Offices of Attorney Garabedian.
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My thoughts today: How could any God-fearing Catholic or Godly person step foot into a Catholic church after Cardinal O'Malley and the Vatican’s Child Protection Commission's first report just came out stating that the Catholic church is still failing to deal with sexual abuse cases. These phony Catholics no doubt have never been molested by a Catholic priest, or have had a family member who was molested by a Catholic priest or Deacon.
I will never understand how the people of St. William Parish, who now know that the Catholic Church has been covering up for their pedophile priests for many many decades can still sit in a church pew and listen to their priest preach the word of God not knowing whether or not he is a pedophile or a priest who protects his brethren pedophile priests.
I know what the parishioners of Tewksbury would say today, they would say, our priests and Deacon are not pedophile's, and my response would be, well, you all said that about Deacon William Emerson and he fooled all of you for decades.
The people of Tewksbury and the parishioners of St. Williams Parish who now know that Deacon William Emerson was a pedophile have just buried their heads in the sand and now pretend that it never happened, all the while quietly thanking God that it was not their little boy that Deacon Emerson sexually abused over 100 times in the basement of St. William Parish.
A PERSON TO REMEMBER AND THANK: Richard Sipe, a researcher, psychotherapist and former priest who spent his life studying the roots of sex abuse within the Roman Catholic Church estimated that approximately 6% of priests act out sexually with minors, a figure that was considered shocking at the time but has since been supported by other studies and investigations. Today there are approximately 352 religious priests and 600 diocesan priests in the Archdiocese of Boston, bringing the total number of priests to 952. Given that 6 % of of priests act out sexually with minors there could be as many as 57 pedophile priests currently serving in the Archdiocese of Boston today.
Could there be a pedophile priest serving at St. William Parish in Tewksbury right now? Absolutely! After all, no one can possibly know whether or not their priest or Deacon is a pedophile until it is too late.
If there isn't one there, I think that Lonnie Allsup's old slogan "There's one near you," definitely applies here.
NOTE: While many of Deacon William Emerson's victims now have no recourse due to Nebraska and Missouri's unconscionable statute of limitations regarding child sexual abuse, there is no doubt in my mind that there are more victims of Deacon William Emerson in Massachusetts and New Hampshire who have not come forward, who still do have recourse.
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A PERSON TO REMEBER AND THANK: Richard Sipe, a researcher, psychotherapist and former priest who spent his life studying the roots of sex abuse within the Roman Catholic Church estimated that approximately 6% of priests act out sexually with minors, a figure that was considered shocking at the time but has since been supported by other studies and investigations. Today there are approximately 352 religious priests and 600 diocesan priests in the Archdiocese of Boston, bringing the total number of priests to 952. Given that 6 % of of priests act out sexually with minors there could be as many as 57 pedophile priests currently serving in the Archdiocese of Boston today.
Richard Sipe sadly passed away in 2018. Even at the age of 85, he was still taking on new cases to help survivors of child sexual abuse. Richard Sipe’s work in the clergy sexual abuse space was/is invaluable, and still remains as is one of the most influential voices in the field.
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Hello Everyone,
This website is about serial pedophile Deacon William "Bill" Emerson who worked at St. William Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts from 1982-2011, 29 years, until he was caught in 2011 smuggling drugs into Massachusetts prisons to young male inmates with whom he was having sex, and then was found by the Archdiocese of Boston in 2021 to have sexually abused a boy between the age of 8-13, over 100 times at St. William Parish between 1982 -2011.
Below is the original Complaint and Jury Trial Demand drafted by the Law Offices of Mitchell Garabedian. The complaint makes clear that St. Williams Parish and its catholic priests failed to properly supervise Deacon Emerson for 29 years while Emerson was interacting with minor children. The fact is there was no supervision at all, none! Deacon Emerson was allowed to have St. William parishioner's children sleep over at his residence unsupervised on church property. He was allowed to take St. William parishioner's children on overnight ski trips unsupervised. He was allowed to take St. William parishioners children overnight to his camp in New Hampshire unsupervised. There wasn't a lack of supervision, there was NO supervision at all, and given that Deacon Emerson had accusations levied against him in Missouri of drugging and molesting boys at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning before coming to St. William Parish, do you think he should have had access to minors overnight? Absolutely not!
The fact is that the Catholic Church allowed Deacon Emerson, an accused pedophile, to run amok in boy's group homes and the Catholic Church for 48 years, with no oversight and no supervision, clearly makes the Catholic church complicit.
https://www.garabedianlaw.com/images/Deacon_Emerson_complaint_-_John_Doe_III_v._Roman_Catholic.pdf
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/deacon-william-r-emerson/
Deacon Emerson was accused of using drugs to molest children while working at the Jesuit program for Living and Learning/Boys Hope Girls Hope and admitted to supplying drugs to young inmates in Massachusetts prisons with whom he was having sex, so it is clear that he had no issue with using drugs to get what he wanted. This being the case it is likely that many of the boys that were molested by Deacon William Emerson at Boys Town in Omaha Nebraska, at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning in St. Louis Missouri, and at St. Williams Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts, may not even know that they were molested.
Then there was Deacon Williams Emerson's summer camp at Sunset Lake Campground in Hampstead New Hampshire where he took young boys on day and overnight trips, weekend trips, weekly long trips, and even month-long trips many who were no doubt molested. Deacon William Emerson often bragged about being a paramedic in his youth, so it is not surprising that he would be familiar with using syringes and have knowledge of drugs that could render someone unconscious.
Deacon Emerson also allowed his lifelong best friend Father Michael McGrath to bring young boys in his church van from his parish in St. Louis Missouri to stay with him at his residence on St. William property for a week at a time during the summer. Father Michael McGrath made this trip every year for several years with young boys. Father Michael McGrath is now known as Missouri's most notorious catholic priest child sex offender. Father Michael McGrath was known to molest children on trips he took them on, in his church van, and often would ply these children with alcohol before molesting them. This was Deacon Emerson's lifelong best friend. What do you think happened to these children staying with Deacon Emerson and Father McGrath, both serial pedophiles, during the week they spent with them at St. William Parish every year, given that one was known to ply children with alcohol and the other was known to ply children with drugs, and then molest them? Nothing good I can tell you that. I can not even imagine how many children were molested by Deacon Emerson at St. Williams Parish during the 29 years that he worked there and lived there.
http://www.bishopaccountability.org/McGrath_Michael_S.html
Deacon William Emerson also had at least three (3) other close friends who are all now known pedophiles including Boys Town house parent Mike Wolf, Father James Kelly of Boys Town. and Boys Town Counselor Henry Grenier, who often referred to himself as a life-long bachelor. I knew Henry. The only reason Henry was a lifelong bachelor was because he preferred giving and receiving oral sex from young boys, as opposed to, let's say, a conventional relationship with a woman.
This website is also about the Catholic church and St. Louis Missouri Catholic priest by the name of Father Paul Sheridan who knew that Deacon Emerson was a pedophile and could have stopped him, or got him help but instead passed him on after each allegation of molestation from state to state, parish to parish, allowing him to continue to pray upon young boys.
Deacon William Emerson, now a known pedophile to the Catholic Church, worked and lived at St. Williams from 1982 to 2011, 29 years. How many young boys were molested by known serial pedophile Deacon William Emerson during the 29 years he lived and served as a Deacon at St. William Parish, no one knows for sure, but you would have to be an idiot to believe it was only one boy.
Also, to believe that the priests that he lived with and worked with at St. Williams Parish for 29 years knew nothing is to believe that they were all complete idiots, which they were not. They just looked the other way like all Catholic priests in Massachusetts, and around the world did back then, because back then the Catholic Church had a history of silencing and punishing whistleblower priests who reported misconduct or sexual abuse by other priests.
The Catholic Church is still silencing and punishing whistleblower priests who report sexual abuse by other priest and clergy members.
Why have I created this website? Well, I was recently contacted and told that one of Deacon William Emerson's relatives Christine Emerson formerly of Tewksbury Massachusetts, now Christine Emerson Burcham of Windham New Hampshire, has been harassing the Archdiocese of Boston claiming that her uncle Deacon William Emerson was not a pedophile even though the Archdiocese of Boston settled a lawsuit in 6/2021 finding that Deacon William Emerson had sexually abused a boy between the age of 8-13, over 100 times at St. William’s Parish between 1982 - 2011.
I was also told that Christine Emerson was harassing the law firm that represented the boy that Deacon Emerson molested at St. William Parish claiming that her uncle was not a child molester, again despite the fact the Archdiocese of Boston settled a lawsuit settled in 6/2021 finding that Deacon William Emerson had sexually abused a boy between the age of 8-13, over 100 times at St. William’s Parish between 1982 - 2011.
I am here to tell you for a fact that I have firsthand knowledge that the boy that Deacon Emerson sexually abused over 100 times at St. William’s Parish between 1982 - 2011, was not his only victim.
I am also here to tell you that Deacon William Emerson molested children in every state that he served in as a Deacon in the Catholic Church including Nebraska, Missouri, and Massachusetts. I am also here to tell you that the Catholic Church knew in the early 1970's that Deacon William Emerson was a pedophile but did nothing to stop him, and instead kept passing him from, state to state, church to church, to continue molesting young boys.
Before you dismiss what I have to say, know this. I knew Deacon William Emerson better than anyone. He was a pedophile, a serial pedophile. Did he do some good for the communities that he lived in during his lifetime, yes. Does that out way what he did to children in the communities that he served as a Deacon in, no it does not. He was a Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde, a monster, a friend to all young boys, especially the vulnerable ones, until he got them alone.
I am here to make it clear, once and for all, to Christine Emerson, the Town of Tewksbury Massachusetts, St. Williams Parish, and anyone else who reads this, that he was a serial pedophile. Yes, he may have been your family member, a friend, even a colleague, but he was also a pedophile.
The people of Tewksbury and in particular the Parishioners of St. William didn't know the real Deacon Emerson. What they knew was, was that he did a tremendous of amount good for the Town of Tewksbury while he lived there, and a tremendous amount of good while he served as a Deacon at St. Williams Parish from 1982 - 2011, but what they didn't know is that while there he prayed upon the children of Tewksbury and in particular the children of St. William Parish while the priests at St. William turned a blind eye to it.
Did Deacon Emerson do some good for the communities that he lived in during his lifetime, yes. Does that out way what he did to children in the communities he served in as a Deacon, no it does not!!!
Deacon Emerson served as a Deacon at St. Williams Parish from 1982- 2011, 29 years, his infatuation with the very young boys was in your face blatant. To believe that none of the priests that he served with and lived with at St. Williams Parish for 29 years knew nothing is to believe that the priests were idiots and they were not. They just looked the other way like all priests in the Catholic Church were expected to do back then. Also, the Catholic Church had/has a history of silencing and punishing whistleblower priests who reported/report misconduct or sexual abuse by other priests.
The fact the the church has a history of silencing and punishing priests who report other priests and clergy members for sexual abuse by no means lets these priests off the hook. The priests who did not and do not report sexual abuse by their brethren are just as guilty as the priests who are committing the sexual abuse of a child. How could a man of God, a Holy man, a Catholic priest stand by and watch a fellow priest rape a child and say nothing, even if he knew that he would be punished by the Catholic Church? These sick individuals have no business being Catholic priests. The Catholic Church has become a sick organization. The priests have become a society of pedophiles and sodomites. The Catholic church is nothing but a Godless Society of Sodomites.
I struggle constantly with what Deacon Emerson was, and now his bringing all of this back up again, forcing me, the Citizens of Tewksbury, St. William Parish, and her own family to relive this.
Having grown up inside the Catholic Church I saw it all. The arrogance of these Priests, Deacon's, Nuns, and Brothers to preach the word of God, then behind closed doors molest and rape Gods Children is beyond unconscionable.
Who should the Town of Tewksbury Massachusetts, St. William Parish, and the Emerson family thank for this website, Christine Emerson, formerly of Tewksbury Massachusetts, Deacon William Emerson's niece. Four (4) years after Deacon William Emerson was found to have sexually abused a boy between the age of 8-13, over 100 times at St. William’s Parish, Christine Emerson is now fighting the Catholic church to clear her uncle's name, so that she can clear her family name, and regain her pride in her family name? Deacon William Emerson's name should never be cleared. His name is listed on the Catholic Church Clergy & Priest Sex Abuse List where it will remain forever, as it should!
Instead of just letting this ugly chapter go in her family's history she has decided that her pride in her family name is more important than her immediate family's wellbeing. By trying to get her uncle's name cleared, to clear her family name, she is going to cause Deacon Emerson's victims and family members more pain, and likely get St. William Parish sued again. Also, Christine Emerson doesn't even live in Tewksbury Massachusetts anymore and doesn't attend St. Williams Parish anymore, so her selfish motives won't hurt her but it will hurt her relatives who still live in Tewksbury Massachusetts and still attend St. William Church, like her mother, and brothers.
What Christine Emerson wants is for the church to conduct an inquiry, which they have already done. Christine Emerson didn't even know her pedophile uncle, he had nothing to do with her, and only saw her at family reunions, so this is not about her defending him, this is just about her clearing her family name. Instead of worrying about her family name she should be praying for her uncle's victims, of which there are many.
Also, the people of Tewksbury and in particular the Parishioners of St. William didn't know the real Deacon Emerson. What they knew was, was that he did a tremendous of amount good for the Town of Tewksbury while he lived there, and a tremendous amount of good while he served as a Deacon at St. Williams Parish from 1982 - 2011, but what they didn't know is that while there he prayed upon the children of Tewksbury and in particular the children of St. Williams Parish while the priests of St. Williams turned a blind eye to it.
Deacon Emerson served as a Deacon at St. Williams Parish from 1982- 2011, 29 years, his infatuation with the very young boys was in your face blatant. To believe that none of the priests that he served with and lived with at St. Williams Parish for 29 years knew nothing is to believe that the priests were idiots and they were not. They just looked the other way like all priests in the Catholic Church were expected to do back then.
I struggle constantly with what Deacon Emerson was, and how his niece is now his bringing all of this back up again, forcing me, the Citizens of Tewksbury, St. William Parish, and her own family to relive this.
Well now that I have made it clear why I have created this website let me tell you how Deacon Emerson, a known pedophile to the Catholic Church, came to be the Deacon of St. William Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts in 1982.
Prior to serving at St. William Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts as a Deacon, Deacon William "Bill" Emerson worked at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning, now Boys Hope Girls Hope, in St. Louis Missouri running a boy's group home for vulnerable at-risk -struggling youth until he was accused of using drugs to molest the boys that were living there, and before that he worked at Boy's Town in Omaha Nebraska which was also a boys home for vulnerable, at-risk -struggling youth until he was accused of sexually molesting boys living there.
While many people in Massachusetts and at St. Williams Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts may now know that Deacon William "Bill" Emerson was a pedophile and that the Archdiocese of Boston settled a lawsuit in 6/2021 finding that Deacon William Emerson had sexually abused a young boy over 100 times at St. William’s Parish between 1982 - 2011, they do not know the whole story of how a pedophile Deacon ended up at St. Williams parish in 1982.
In 1977, St. Louis Missouri Jesuit Priest Father Paul Sheridan hired his best friend, Deacon William Emerson, an accused pedophile, now a known pedophile to the Archdiocese of Boston MA, to be the Director of Operations at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning, later renamed Boys Hope Girls Hope, which was an organization Father Paul Sheridan founded for homeless boys in Saint Louis Missouri in 1976, with his best friend Deacon William Emerson who from its inception helped to establish the program and played a significant role in its initial founding and creation. How do you think that turned out, not well, not well at all for the boys that were molested, which is why Father Paul Sheridan has erased Deacon Emerson and his significant contributions to the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning/Boys Hope Girls Hope Program from its history.
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/deacon-william-r-emerson/
Father Paul Sheridan hired Deacon William Emerson as the Director of Operations to run the day-to-day operations of the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning despite knowing that Deacon Emerson had been accused in 1976 of pedophilia at Boys Town in Omaha Nebraska where he and Deacon William Emerson first met, worked together, and became best friends.
As a side note, I want everyone who is reading this to know that in the 1970's Boy's Town was nothing but a paradise for pedophiles like Clergy member Deacon William Emerson, Boys Town house parent Mike Wolf, Boys Town Counselor Henry Grenier and father James Kelly who was the director of spiritual affairs at Boys Town. All of the above-named individuals worked and lived at Boy's Town, were close friends with Deacon William Emerson, and are now all known pedophiles to the Catholic church. In other words, each and everyone of Deacon Emerson's close friends at Boy's Town was a pedophile.
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/deacon-william-r-emerson/
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2003_01_06/2003_04_18_AP_BoysTown.htm
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/kelly-james-e-1957/
Hiring Deacon William Emerson to be the Director of Operations at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning would prove to be an uncontainable decision on Father Paul Sheridan's part when in 1982 numerous boys living at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning reported that they were being drugged and molested by Deacon William Emerson, who shortly after the accusations was found in possession of a bag containing hypodermic needles and prescription drugs which were found in his room, which none of the boys in the program had been prescribed, and Deacon William Emerson denied were his.
Rather than report his best friend to the authorities Father Paul Sheridan, not being able to cover for his best friend this time, asked Deacon Emerson to move on, which he did without consequence once again, this time to an unsuspecting Parish, St. William Parish, in Tewksbury Massachusetts.
This would prove to be another uncontainable decision on Father Paul Sheridan's part when in 2011, while working at Saint William's Parish in Tewksbury MA, and as a Massachusetts Prison Chaplain, Deacon Emerson admitted to smuggling drugs into the Middlesex County House of Correction in Billerica Massachusetts to young inmates with whom he was having sex. Then in 2021, Deacon William Emerson was found by the Archdiocese of Boston Massachusetts to have sexually abused a young boy between the age of 8 -13 years old over 100 times at St. William’s Parish in Tewksbury MA.
During the 45 years that Deacon William "Bill" Emerson served as a Deacon in the Catholic Church he worked at Boys Town in Omaha Nebraska where he was accused of pedophilia, then the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning where he was once again accused of pedophilia, and then St. William Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts where he was defrocked by the Archdiocese of Boston for having molested a young boy at St. Williams Parish over one hundred (100) times.
Deacon Emerson was ordained as a Permanent Deacon in the Diocese of Omaha, Nebraska in 1973. He worked at Boy's Town and remained there until 1976, until accusations of molestation were levied against him, Boys Town House parent Mike Wolf, who is now a known pedophile, and Boys Town Counselor Henry Grenier who was also a pedophile.
In 1977 Deacon Emerson was hired by Father Paul Sheridan to be the Director of Operations at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning until 1982, six (6) years, when accusations of molestation were made against him by boys living at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning.
In 1982 Deacon Emerson was granted faculties to serve as a Deacon in the Archdiocese of Boston and began working as a Deacon at St. Williams Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts. In 2011, after twenty-nine (29) years working at Saint William's Parish in Tewksbury MA, and as a Massachusetts prison Chaplain, Deacon Emerson admitted to smuggling drugs into the Middlesex County House of Correction in Billerica Massachusetts to young inmates with whom he was having sex. Then in 2021, Deacon William Emerson was found by the Archdiocese of Boston MA to have sexually abused a young boy under the age of 13 over 100 times at St. William’s Parish in Tewksbury MA.
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/deacon-william-r-emerson/
How many young boys were molested by Deacon Emerson between the time he was ordained in 1973 and his faculties were removed by the Archdiocese of Boston in 2011? Truth be told, no one knows, but Massachusetts Attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, who represented the boy that Deacon Emerson molested at Saint Williams Parish believes that Deacon Emerson likely molested hundreds (100s) of boys during his forty-eight (48) year tenure as a Deacon in the Catholic Church.
While it is true that in the 1970s Catholic Priests did not report other priests for pedophilia, Father Paul Sheridan could have and should have gone to the authorities and reported the accusations of molestation that had been levied against Deacon Emerson.
I want to make clear that while I do NOT accuse Jesuit priest Father Paul Sheridan of Pedophilia, I do blame him for not reporting Deacon William Emerson to the authorities in Omaha Nebraska and St. Louis Missouri for pedophilia. Had Father Sheridan done so the boy that the Archdiocese of Boston found to have been molested by Deacon William Emerson, over 100 times at St. Williams Parish, would have never been molested.
Today, Father Paul Sheridan has no problem condemning pedophilia in the Catholic Church because it is now the accepted thing to do, but back in the day, he kept quiet like all Catholic Priests did back then.
While I do not know why Father Sheridan did not turn Deacon William Emerson into the Catholic Church or the authorities, I believe it was a combination of the fact that he and Deacon Emerson were best friends and the fact that back then, just as today, the Catholic Church has a history of silencing and punishing whistleblower priests who report misconduct or sexual abuse by other priests.
I recently saw Father Paul Sheridan posing for a photo at his 80th birthday party celebrating all of his accomplishments with his hand on a Bible. All I could think was what a sanctimonious prick. While it appears Father Sheridan has never been accused of pedophilia, he did cover up two separate allegations of pedophilia in two different states for at least one pedophile, Deacon William "Bill" Emerson. I would say that that makes him complicate in the pedophilia wouldn't you?
I recently found a photo on the Boys Hope Girls Hope website of Father Paul Sheridan sitting in a vehicle wearing what appears to be his underwear and a tee shirt sitting next to a young boy who was living at the Jesuit Program for Living (JPLL) and Learning. This infuriated me even more as many of the children who were molested at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning were molested in vehicles by Deacon Emerson, Father Michael McGrath, and house parent Henry Grenier.
Regardless of what anyone believes, these are facts. Deacon William Emerson, a known pedophile, was accused of pedophilia at Boys Town in Omaha Nebraska after working there for four (4) years after he was ordained. He then fled to St. Louis Missouri with the help of Father Paul Sheridan where he ran the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning Program, now Boys Hope Girls Hope, under Father Paul Sheridan's supervision, or lack thereof, from 1977-1982, six (6) years, until he was accused of pedophilia there. He then fled to St. William Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts.
At the time of Deacon William Emerson's passing child pornography was found in his home. The child pornography included CD's, VHS tapes, and countless magazines. He had inappropriate pictures of young boys who attended St. William Parish that were taken at St. William Parish. He also had inappropriate photos of young boys who attended St. Williams Parish that were taken at his summer camp in New Hampshire of their genital areas. The amount of child pornography in his home would have made pedophile Boston Serial Pedophile Priest Father John J. Geoghan blush.
I could write a book about the pedophilia that I witnessed growing up in the Catholic church, including that of Deacon William Emerson, but I do not believe that I have the inner strength or time left on this earth, due to cancer, to write a book about it, but if I hear of one more person from Tewksbury Massachusetts, one more person from St. Williams Parish, or one more person from his family announce publicly that he was not a pedophile, I will find the strength.
QUOTE: There is a quote by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn that reads: "The battle-line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man." Catholic Priests are just mere men, are they not? Yes, they are, and seeing them as more than just mere men is what has allowed them to get away with pedophilia for centuries.
LEGAL REPRESENTATION: If you have been sexually abused by a Clergy member contact the Law Offices of Mitchell Garabedian. The Law Offices of Mitchell Garabedian represent sex abuse victims and survivors of sexual abuse and they will give you a free consultation. Mitchell Garabedian is an internationally recognized attorney and advocate for victims and survivors of sexual abuse. As a result of his groundbreaking legal work in the Father John J. Geoghan child sexual abuse cases, Attorney Mitchell Garabedian was portrayed by Stanley Tucci in the 2016 Academy Award Winning best picture “Spotlight.”
Disclaimer: This website is not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with the Law Offices of Attorney Garabedian.
NOTE: While many of Deacon William Emerson's victims now have no recourse due to Nebraska and Missouri's unconscionable statute of limitations regarding child sexual abuse, there is no doubt in my mind that there are more victims of Deacon William Emerson in Massachusetts and New Hampshire who have not come forward, who still do have recourse.
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Richard Sipe, a researcher, psychotherapist and former priest who spent his life studying the roots of sex abuse within the Roman Catholic Church estimated that approximately 6% of priests act out sexually with minors, a figure that was considered shocking at the time but has since been supported by other studies and investigations.
Hello Everyone,
This website is about serial pedophile Deacon William "Bill" Emerson who worked at St. William Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts from 1982-2011, 29 years, until he was caught in 2011 smuggling drugs into Massachusetts prisons to young male inmates with whom he was having sex, and then was found by the Archdiocese of Boston in 2021 to have sexually abused a boy between the age of 8-13, over 100 times at St. William Parish between 1982 -2011.
Below is the original Complaint and Jury Trial Demand drafted by the Law Offices of Mitchell Garabedian. The complaint makes clear that St. Williams Parish and its catholic priests failed to properly supervise Deacon Emerson for 29 years while Emerson was interacting with minor children. The fact is there was no supervision at all, none! Deacon Emerson was allowed to have St. William parishioner's children sleep over at his residence unsupervised on church property. He was allowed to take St. William parishioner's children on overnight ski trips unsupervised. He was allowed to take St. William parishioners children overnight to his camp in New Hampshire unsupervised. There wasn't a lack of supervision, there was NO supervision at all, and given that Deacon Emerson had accusations levied against him in Missouri of drugging and molesting boys at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning before coming to St. William Parish, do you think he should have had access to minors overnight? Absolutely not!
The fact is that the Catholic Church allowed Deacon Emerson, an accused pedophile, to run amok in boy's group homes and the Catholic Church for 48 years, with no oversight and no supervision, clearly makes the Catholic church complicit.
https://www.garabedianlaw.com/images/Deacon_Emerson_complaint_-_John_Doe_III_v._Roman_Catholic.pdf
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/deacon-william-r-emerson/
Deacon Emerson was accused of using drugs to molest children while working at the Jesuit program for Living and Learning/Boys Hope Girls Hope and admitted to supplying drugs to young inmates in Massachusetts prisons with whom he was having sex, so it is clear that he had no issue with using drugs to get what he wanted. This being the case it is likely that many of the boys that were molested by Deacon William Emerson at Boys Town in Omaha Nebraska, at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning in St. Louis Missouri, and at St. Williams Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts, may not even know that they were molested.
Then there was Deacon Williams Emerson's summer camp at Sunset Lake Campground in Hampstead New Hampshire where he took young boys on day and overnight trips, weekend trips, weekly long trips, and even month-long trips many who were no doubt molested. Deacon William Emerson often bragged about being a paramedic in his youth, so it is not surprising that he would be familiar with using syringes and have knowledge of drugs that could render someone unconscious.
Deacon Emerson also allowed his lifelong best friend Father Michael McGrath to bring young boys in his church van from his parish in St. Louis Missouri to stay with him at his residence on St. William property for a week at a time during the summer. Father Michael McGrath made this trip every year for several years with young boys. Father Michael McGrath is now known as Missouri's most notorious catholic priest child sex offender. Father Michael McGrath was known to molest children on trips he took them on, in his church van, and often would ply these children with alcohol before molesting them. This was Deacon Emerson's lifelong best friend. What do you think happened to these children staying with Deacon Emerson and Father McGrath, both serial pedophiles, during the week they spent with them at St. William Parish every year, given that one was known to ply children with alcohol and the other was known to ply children with drugs, and then molest them? Nothing good I can tell you that. I can not even imagine how many children were molested by Deacon Emerson at St. Williams Parish during the 29 years that he worked there and lived there.
http://www.bishopaccountability.org/McGrath_Michael_S.html
Deacon William Emerson also had at least three (3) other close friends who are all now known pedophiles including Boys Town house parent Mike Wolf, Father James Kelly of Boys Town. and Boys Town Counselor Henry Grenier, who often referred to himself as a life-long bachelor. I knew Henry. The only reason Henry was a lifelong bachelor was because he preferred giving and receiving oral sex from young boys, as opposed to, let's say, a conventional relationship with a woman.
This website is also about the Catholic church and St. Louis Missouri Catholic priest by the name of Father Paul Sheridan who knew that Deacon Emerson was a pedophile and could have stopped him, or got him help but instead passed him on after each allegation of molestation from state to state, parish to parish, allowing him to continue to pray upon young boys.
Deacon William Emerson, now a known pedophile to the Catholic Church, worked and lived at St. Williams from 1982 to 2011, 29 years. How many young boys were molested by known serial pedophile Deacon William Emerson during the 29 years he lived and served as a Deacon at St. William Parish, no one knows for sure, but you would have to be an idiot to believe it was only one boy.
Also, to believe that the priests that he lived with and worked with at St. Williams Parish for 29 years knew nothing is to believe that they were all complete idiots, which they were not. They just looked the other way like all Catholic priests in Massachusetts, and around the world did back then, because back then the Catholic Church had a history of silencing and punishing whistleblower priests who reported misconduct or sexual abuse by other priests.
The Catholic Church is still silencing and punishing whistleblower priests who report sexual abuse by other priest and clergy members.
Why have I created this website? Well, I was recently contacted and told that one of Deacon William Emerson's relatives Christine Emerson formerly of Tewksbury Massachusetts, now Christine Emerson Burcham of Windham New Hampshire, has been harassing the Archdiocese of Boston claiming that her uncle Deacon William Emerson was not a pedophile even though the Archdiocese of Boston settled a lawsuit in 6/2021 finding that Deacon William Emerson had sexually abused a boy between the age of 8-13, over 100 times at St. William’s Parish between 1982 - 2011.
I was also told that Christine Emerson was harassing the law firm that represented the boy that Deacon Emerson molested at St. William Parish claiming that her uncle was not a child molester, again despite the fact the Archdiocese of Boston settled a lawsuit settled in 6/2021 finding that Deacon William Emerson had sexually abused a boy between the age of 8-13, over 100 times at St. William’s Parish between 1982 - 2011.
I am here to tell you for a fact that I have firsthand knowledge that the boy that Deacon Emerson sexually abused over 100 times at St. William’s Parish between 1982 - 2011, was not his only victim.
I am also here to tell you that Deacon William Emerson molested children in every state that he served in as a Deacon in the Catholic Church including Nebraska, Missouri, and Massachusetts. I am also here to tell you that the Catholic Church knew in the early 1970's that Deacon William Emerson was a pedophile but did nothing to stop him, and instead kept passing him from, state to state, church to church, to continue molesting young boys.
Before you dismiss what I have to say, know this. I knew Deacon William Emerson better than anyone. He was a pedophile, a serial pedophile. Did he do some good for the communities that he lived in during his lifetime, yes. Does that out way what he did to children in the communities that he served as a Deacon in, no it does not. He was a Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde, a monster, a friend to all young boys, especially the vulnerable ones, until he got them alone.
I am here to make it clear, once and for all, to Christine Emerson, the Town of Tewksbury Massachusetts, St. Williams Parish, and anyone else who reads this, that he was a serial pedophile. Yes, he may have been your family member, a friend, even a colleague, but he was also a pedophile.
The people of Tewksbury and in particular the Parishioners of St. William didn't know the real Deacon Emerson. What they knew was, was that he did a tremendous of amount good for the Town of Tewksbury while he lived there, and a tremendous amount of good while he served as a Deacon at St. Williams Parish from 1982 - 2011, but what they didn't know is that while there he prayed upon the children of Tewksbury and in particular the children of St. William Parish while the priests at St. William turned a blind eye to it.
Did Deacon Emerson do some good for the communities that he lived in during his lifetime, yes. Does that out way what he did to children in the communities he served in as a Deacon, no it does not!!!
Deacon Emerson served as a Deacon at St. Williams Parish from 1982- 2011, 29 years, his infatuation with the very young boys was in your face blatant. To believe that none of the priests that he served with and lived with at St. Williams Parish for 29 years knew nothing is to believe that the priests were idiots and they were not. They just looked the other way like all priests in the Catholic Church were expected to do back then. Also, the Catholic Church had/has a history of silencing and punishing whistleblower priests who reported/report misconduct or sexual abuse by other priests.
The fact the the church has a history of silencing and punishing priests who report other priests and clergy members for sexual abuse by no means lets these priests off the hook. The priests who did not and do not report sexual abuse by their brethren are just as guilty as the priests who are committing the sexual abuse of a child. How could a man of God, a Holy man, a Catholic priest stand by and watch a fellow priest rape a child and say nothing, even if he knew that he would be punished by the Catholic Church? These sick individuals have no business being Catholic priests. The Catholic Church has become a sick organization. The priests have become a society of pedophiles and sodomites. The Catholic church is nothing but a Godless Society of Sodomites.
I struggle constantly with what Deacon Emerson was, and now his bringing all of this back up again, forcing me, the Citizens of Tewksbury, St. William Parish, and her own family to relive this.
Having grown up inside the Catholic Church I saw it all. The arrogance of these Priests, Deacon's, Nuns, and Brothers to preach the word of God, then behind closed doors molest and rape Gods Children is beyond unconscionable.
Who should the Town of Tewksbury Massachusetts, St. William Parish, and the Emerson family thank for this website, Christine Emerson, formerly of Tewksbury Massachusetts, Deacon William Emerson's niece. Four (4) years after Deacon William Emerson was found to have sexually abused a boy between the age of 8-13, over 100 times at St. William’s Parish, Christine Emerson is now fighting the Catholic church to clear her uncle's name, so that she can clear her family name, and regain her pride in her family name? Deacon William Emerson's name should never be cleared. His name is listed on the Catholic Church Clergy & Priest Sex Abuse List where it will remain forever, as it should!
Instead of just letting this ugly chapter go in her family's history she has decided that her pride in her family name is more important than her immediate family's wellbeing. By trying to get her uncle's name cleared, to clear her family name, she is going to cause Deacon Emerson's victims and family members more pain, and likely get St. William Parish sued again. Also, Christine Emerson doesn't even live in Tewksbury Massachusetts anymore and doesn't attend St. Williams Parish anymore, so her selfish motives won't hurt her but it will hurt her relatives who still live in Tewksbury Massachusetts and still attend St. William Church, like her mother, and brothers.
What Christine Emerson wants is for the church to conduct an inquiry, which they have already done. Christine Emerson didn't even know her pedophile uncle, he had nothing to do with her, and only saw her at family reunions, so this is not about her defending him, this is just about her clearing her family name. Instead of worrying about her family name she should be praying for her uncle's victims, of which there are many.
Also, the people of Tewksbury and in particular the Parishioners of St. William didn't know the real Deacon Emerson. What they knew was, was that he did a tremendous of amount good for the Town of Tewksbury while he lived there, and a tremendous amount of good while he served as a Deacon at St. Williams Parish from 1982 - 2011, but what they didn't know is that while there he prayed upon the children of Tewksbury and in particular the children of St. Williams Parish while the priests of St. Williams turned a blind eye to it.
Deacon Emerson served as a Deacon at St. Williams Parish from 1982- 2011, 29 years, his infatuation with the very young boys was in your face blatant. To believe that none of the priests that he served with and lived with at St. Williams Parish for 29 years knew nothing is to believe that the priests were idiots and they were not. They just looked the other way like all priests in the Catholic Church were expected to do back then.
I struggle constantly with what Deacon Emerson was, and how his niece is now his bringing all of this back up again, forcing me, the Citizens of Tewksbury, St. William Parish, and her own family to relive this.
Well now that I have made it clear why I have created this website let me tell you how Deacon Emerson, a known pedophile to the Catholic Church, came to be the Deacon of St. William Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts in 1982.
Prior to serving at St. William Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts as a Deacon, Deacon William "Bill" Emerson worked at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning, now Boys Hope Girls Hope, in St. Louis Missouri running a boy's group home for vulnerable at-risk -struggling youth until he was accused of using drugs to molest the boys that were living there, and before that he worked at Boy's Town in Omaha Nebraska which was also a boys home for vulnerable, at-risk -struggling youth until he was accused of sexually molesting boys living there.
While many people in Massachusetts and at St. Williams Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts may now know that Deacon William "Bill" Emerson was a pedophile and that the Archdiocese of Boston settled a lawsuit in 6/2021 finding that Deacon William Emerson had sexually abused a young boy over 100 times at St. William’s Parish between 1982 - 2011, they do not know the whole story of how a pedophile Deacon ended up at St. Williams parish in 1982.
In 1977, St. Louis Missouri Jesuit Priest Father Paul Sheridan hired his best friend, Deacon William Emerson, an accused pedophile, now a known pedophile to the Archdiocese of Boston MA, to be the Director of Operations at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning, later renamed Boys Hope Girls Hope, which was an organization Father Paul Sheridan founded for homeless boys in Saint Louis Missouri in 1976, with his best friend Deacon William Emerson who from its inception helped to establish the program and played a significant role in its initial founding and creation. How do you think that turned out, not well, not well at all for the boys that were molested, which is why Father Paul Sheridan has erased Deacon Emerson and his significant contributions to the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning/Boys Hope Girls Hope Program from its history.
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/deacon-william-r-emerson/
Father Paul Sheridan hired Deacon William Emerson as the Director of Operations to run the day-to-day operations of the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning despite knowing that Deacon Emerson had been accused in 1976 of pedophilia at Boys Town in Omaha Nebraska where he and Deacon William Emerson first met, worked together, and became best friends.
As a side note, I want everyone who is reading this to know that in the 1970's Boy's Town was nothing but a paradise for pedophiles like Clergy member Deacon William Emerson, Boys Town house parent Mike Wolf, Boys Town Counselor Henry Grenier and father James Kelly who was the director of spiritual affairs at Boys Town. All of the above-named individuals worked and lived at Boy's Town, were close friends with Deacon William Emerson, and are now all known pedophiles to the Catholic church. In other words, each and everyone of Deacon Emerson's close friends at Boy's Town was a pedophile.
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/deacon-william-r-emerson/
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2003_01_06/2003_04_18_AP_BoysTown.htm
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/kelly-james-e-1957/
Hiring Deacon William Emerson to be the Director of Operations at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning would prove to be an uncontainable decision on Father Paul Sheridan's part when in 1982 numerous boys living at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning reported that they were being drugged and molested by Deacon William Emerson, who shortly after the accusations was found in possession of a bag containing hypodermic needles and prescription drugs which were found in his room, which none of the boys in the program had been prescribed, and Deacon William Emerson denied were his.
Rather than report his best friend to the authorities Father Paul Sheridan, not being able to cover for his best friend this time, asked Deacon Emerson to move on, which he did without consequence once again, this time to an unsuspecting Parish, St. William Parish, in Tewksbury Massachusetts.
This would prove to be another uncontainable decision on Father Paul Sheridan's part when in 2011, while working at Saint William's Parish in Tewksbury MA, and as a Massachusetts Prison Chaplain, Deacon Emerson admitted to smuggling drugs into the Middlesex County House of Correction in Billerica Massachusetts to young inmates with whom he was having sex. Then in 2021, Deacon William Emerson was found by the Archdiocese of Boston Massachusetts to have sexually abused a young boy between the age of 8 -13 years old over 100 times at St. William’s Parish in Tewksbury MA.
During the 45 years that Deacon William "Bill" Emerson served as a Deacon in the Catholic Church he worked at Boys Town in Omaha Nebraska where he was accused of pedophilia, then the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning where he was once again accused of pedophilia, and then St. William Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts where he was defrocked by the Archdiocese of Boston for having molested a young boy at St. Williams Parish over one hundred (100) times.
Deacon Emerson was ordained as a Permanent Deacon in the Diocese of Omaha, Nebraska in 1973. He worked at Boy's Town and remained there until 1976, until accusations of molestation were levied against him, Boys Town House parent Mike Wolf, who is now a known pedophile, and Boys Town Counselor Henry Grenier who was also a pedophile.
In 1977 Deacon Emerson was hired by Father Paul Sheridan to be the Director of Operations at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning until 1982, six (6) years, when accusations of molestation were made against him by boys living at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning.
In 1982 Deacon Emerson was granted faculties to serve as a Deacon in the Archdiocese of Boston and began working as a Deacon at St. Williams Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts. In 2011, after twenty-nine (29) years working at Saint William's Parish in Tewksbury MA, and as a Massachusetts prison Chaplain, Deacon Emerson admitted to smuggling drugs into the Middlesex County House of Correction in Billerica Massachusetts to young inmates with whom he was having sex. Then in 2021, Deacon William Emerson was found by the Archdiocese of Boston MA to have sexually abused a young boy under the age of 13 over 100 times at St. William’s Parish in Tewksbury MA.
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/deacon-william-r-emerson/
How many young boys were molested by Deacon Emerson between the time he was ordained in 1973 and his faculties were removed by the Archdiocese of Boston in 2011? Truth be told, no one knows, but Massachusetts Attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, who represented the boy that Deacon Emerson molested at Saint Williams Parish believes that Deacon Emerson likely molested hundreds (100s) of boys during his forty-eight (48) year tenure as a Deacon in the Catholic Church.
While it is true that in the 1970s Catholic Priests did not report other priests for pedophilia, Father Paul Sheridan could have and should have gone to the authorities and reported the accusations of molestation that had been levied against Deacon Emerson.
I want to make clear that while I do NOT accuse Jesuit priest Father Paul Sheridan of Pedophilia, I do blame him for not reporting Deacon William Emerson to the authorities in Omaha Nebraska and St. Louis Missouri for pedophilia. Had Father Sheridan done so the boy that the Archdiocese of Boston found to have been molested by Deacon William Emerson, over 100 times at St. Williams Parish, would have never been molested.
Today, Father Paul Sheridan has no problem condemning pedophilia in the Catholic Church because it is now the accepted thing to do, but back in the day, he kept quiet like all Catholic Priests did back then.
While I do not know why Father Sheridan did not turn Deacon William Emerson into the Catholic Church or the authorities, I believe it was a combination of the fact that he and Deacon Emerson were best friends and the fact that back then, just as today, the Catholic Church has a history of silencing and punishing whistleblower priests who report misconduct or sexual abuse by other priests.
I recently saw Father Paul Sheridan posing for a photo at his 80th birthday party celebrating all of his accomplishments with his hand on a Bible. All I could think was what a sanctimonious prick. While it appears Father Sheridan has never been accused of pedophilia, he did cover up two separate allegations of pedophilia in two different states for at least one pedophile, Deacon William "Bill" Emerson. I would say that that makes him complicate in the pedophilia wouldn't you?
I recently found a photo on the Boys Hope Girls Hope website of Father Paul Sheridan sitting in a vehicle wearing what appears to be his underwear and a tee shirt sitting next to a young boy who was living at the Jesuit Program for Living (JPLL) and Learning. This infuriated me even more as many of the children who were molested at the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning were molested in vehicles by Deacon Emerson, Father Michael McGrath, and house parent Henry Grenier.
https://boyshopegirlshope.org/fpsheridan80bday/#:~:text=Saturday%2C%20September%2023%2C%202023
Regardless of what anyone believes, these are facts. Deacon William Emerson, a known pedophile, was accused of pedophilia at Boys Town in Omaha Nebraska after working there for four (4) years after he was ordained. He then fled to St. Louis Missouri with the help of Father Paul Sheridan where he ran the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning Program, now Boys Hope Girls Hope, under Father Paul Sheridan's supervision, or lack thereof, from 1977-1982, six (6) years, until he was accused of pedophilia there. He then fled to St. William Parish in Tewksbury Massachusetts.
At the time of Deacon William Emerson's passing child pornography was found in his home. The child pornography included CD's, VHS tapes, and countless magazines. He had inappropriate pictures of young boys who attended St. William Parish that were taken at St. William Parish. He also had inappropriate photos of young boys who attended St. Williams Parish that were taken at his summer camp in New Hampshire of their genital areas. The amount of child pornography in his home would have made pedophile Boston Serial Pedophile Priest Father John J. Geoghan blush.
I could write a book about the pedophilia that I witnessed growing up in the Catholic church, including that of Deacon William Emerson, but I do not believe that I have the inner strength or time left on this earth, due to cancer, to write a book about it, but if I hear of one more person from Tewksbury Massachusetts, one more person from St. Williams Parish, or one more person from his family announce publicly that he was not a pedophile, I will find the strength.
QUOTE: There is a quote by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn that reads: "The battle-line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man." Catholic Priests are just mere men, are they not? Yes, they are, and seeing them as more than just mere men is what has allowed them to get away with pedophilia for centuries.
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