Francis T. Brennan

Ordained: 1954
Diocese: Diocese of Scranton

From Report I of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania:

On August 4, 2010, the Diocese received a telephone call from a 65-year-old male who reported that he was sexually abused by Father Francis T. Brennan when he was 15 or 16-years- old. He reported that Brennan took him to a drive-in movie and put his hands inside the victim’s pants.  The Diocese offered to arrange for counseling for the victim.

That same day, an e-mail communication was sent from Chancellor James Earley to Bishop Joseph Bambera wherein he advised that in 2005, the Diocese had been sued by Richard Serbin, Esquire who was representing a client who stated that he had been abused by Brennan in 1966 when he was an altar boy.  The Court rejected the case, however, concluding that the victim had waited too long to sue the diocese.  A post-it note was attached to a print-out of this e-mail communication which stated “bad abuse case.  perpetrator. [Victim] sued us . . . we won.”

Additional information regarding the widespread sexual abuse of children within the Catholic Dioceses of Pennsylvania and the systemic cover up by senior church officials is compiled in the Pennsylvania Diocese Victim’s Report published by the Pennsylvania Attorney General following a two-year grand jury investigation.  A complete copy of the Report is available on the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s website.