Rev. Charles F. Dearing

Summary of Case: Parish priest, U.S. Air Force chaplain. Left the priesthood in 1971. A woman filed suit in April 2003 alleging abuse by Dearing when she was about age 10 1966-68. The suit settled in June 2000 as part of a massive diocesan settlement. Criminal charges were filed in July 2003. Dearing pleaded not guilty.  The charges were later dismissed after the prosecutor said there was "insufficient evidence at this time" to proceed.

Ordained: 1955

     

Start Stop Assignment Town/Accusations State Position Notes

1955

Louisville archbishop was John Alexander Floersh (1924-1967)

1959 St. Joseph's Bardstown KY

4/4, 2/3

 

 Parish had a school with 801-804 students.
1959 1968 U.S. Air Force     Chaplain  

1964

Floersh was succeeded by Thomas Joseph McDonough (1967-1981)

1968 St. Francis of Rome

Louisville

• A woman accused Dearing in a 2003 lawsuit of having sexually abused her when she was a child, between 1966 and 1968. (Associated Press State & Local Wire
April 21, 2003)

KY

2/2, 2/3, 1/2

Administrator

Parish had a school with 283-203 students.
1968 1976 Absent on Leave      

The 1976 Directory is the last in which Dearing is indexed. He is said to have left the priesthood in 1971. He went on to marry and have children.

Dearing was indicted in 2003 for having forced a young girl to perform oral sodomy on him between 1966-1968, to which he pleaded innocent. (Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)
July 9, 2003) The charges were dropped in Jan. 2004. (Associated Press State & Local Wire
January 22, 2004) He is last known to have been retired and living in Louisville.


Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1956-1976)

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Dearing's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on December 23, 2009