STATE COLLEGE – Lawsuits have been filed against the Jesuits of New York and a current and two former Catholic bishops in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese for conspiracy and fraud, stating they had transferred a seminarian they knew molested children in Rochester, New York, to a parish in State College.
And according to the suits filed Monday by attorney Richard Serbin of the Janet, Janet & Suggs law firm on behalf of two accusers who attended the Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church, the seminarian repeatedly sexually assaulted both boys and raped one of them in the early 1970s. One of the two took his own life when he was 32.
Serbin, who filed a similar suit in Dauphin County, held a press conference today to announce the suits. He said the boys were sexually abused by Father Leonard Riforgiato, who assisted at the parish. He added that sometimes the assaults took place in the presence of another Jesuit priest, Father Joseph Riley.
“When Father Riforgiato admitted no later than 1969 to his Jesuit superiors that he had sexually molested children at McQuaide High School in Rochester, New York, they should have turned him in to the police,” he said. “Instead, they provided him with a fresh hunting ground in Pennsylvania, which proved tragic for my clients.”
He added Riforgiato died in 1999 after teaching for 27 years as an associate professor of history at the Shenango Valley Campus of Penn State University, where he also worked with youth groups.
“For decades the Jesuits and the bishops conspired to hide Riforgiato’s sexual crimes and those of countless others until forced to identify them in January 2019 following the release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report in August 2018,” he said.
Riley is named as a defendant in the suit, along with the USA Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus; John J. Cicero, the current provincial of the province, Bishop Mark Bartchak, current bishop of the diocese and the estates of former bishops Joseph V. Adamec and James J. Hogan.
These suits follow a state Superior Court ruling in one of Serbin’s cases that has the potential for more suits to be filed by abuse victims against supervisors accused of ignoring or hiding child sex abuse cases.
Serbin said the Jesuits made a public statement in January that Riforgiato had admitted in 1969 to sexually abusing children.
“It took the Jesuits 50 years to inform the public about Riforgiato’s involvement in violating children,” he said.
Serbin said the assaults occurred like this:
When Riforgiato arrived at the parish in State College, he assisted in Mass and worked with the church’s altar boy program, telling the children and families to “call me Father Lenny.”
Riforgiato would give one of the accusers, who was 14 at the time, excessive amounts of alcohol and sexually assaulted him on a regular basis. He raped him on their last encounter.
Riley, who was Riforgiato’s supervisor and roommate, witnessed some of the sexual assaults.
The second boy was very religious, attended church regularly and volunteered there. His depression and sense of betrayal from someone he trusted led to his suicide at the age of 32. He left behind a wife and two children.
Riforgiato had groomed the two boys in a fashion found in many other cases, befriending their families and taking them out to dinner and bowling.
He left the order in 1972, but he worked with youth groups when he taught for 27 years the Shenango Valley Campus of Penn State University, and Serbin added, “I think we are going to see many other children were sexually violated by Father Leonard.”
This posted was updated with additional information.