Assignment Record– Rev. Randal Gillette, C.P. (James R.)

Summary of Case: A Passionist priest ordained in 1971, Gillette worked in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Mexico City, Honduras, Pennsylvania and New York. His personnel file, released in January 2003, contained a September 2002 letter accusing him of sexually assaulting a boy at St. Gabriel's Parish in Brighton, Massachusetts in 1972. A lawsuit filed in 2014 alleged abuse of an altar boy, ages 9 to 13, beginning while Gillette was assigned to a New Jersey parish, and continuing into his subsequent assignment at St. Gabriel's in Boston. In January 2020 Gillette pled guilty in that case to two counts of unnatural and lascivious acts with a child. He was sentenced to five years' house arrest, and ordered to receive sex offender treatment and to register as a sex offender.

Ordained: 1971

     

Start Stop Assignment Town/Accusations State/Country Position Notes

1971

Newark archbishop was Thomas Aloysius Boland (1952-1974).

1974 St. Michael's

Union City

• Accused of sexually abusing a boy, ages 9 to 13, while assigned to St. Michael's. Gillette's abuse of the boy continued during his assignment at St. Gabriel's in Boston, MA.   

 

 NJ 6/6 , 4/4

Parish had a school wit 601-551 students.

Gillette's victim filed a lawsuit in 2014, which settled in 2016. In January 2020 Gillette pled guilty to two counts of unnatural and lascivious acts with a child. He was sentenced in Boston in January 2020 to five years' house arrest and ordered to receive sex offender treatment and to register as a sex offender.   

 

1974

Boston archbishop was Humberto Sousa Medeiros (1970-1983).

1978 St. Gabriel's

Boston (Brighton)

• Accused in a 2002 letter of having sexually assaulted a boy at this parish in 1972.

• As of January 2020 a civil suit had been filed by a man alleging abuse at age 16 by Gillette while the priest was assigned to St. Gabriel's. (It is unclear if this is the same victim who had come forward in 2002.)    

 MA 3/3, 4/4  

1978

Mexico City archbishop was Ernesto Corripio y Ahumada (1977-1994).

1987 St. Patrick's Mexico City Mexico 1/2  
1987 1993 Foreign Mission   Honduras    
1993
Pittsburgh bishop was William Donald Wuerl (1988-2006).		 1994 St. Paul of the Cross Monastery Pittsburgh PA    
1994 1998         Gillette is not indexed in the 1995-1998 Directories.

1998

New York archbishop was John Joseph O'Connor (1984-2000), followed by Edward Michael Egan (2000-2009).

2004 St. Vincent's Residence Pelham Manor NY  

Indexed as James R. Gillette, c.p.

This was a skilled nursing facility.

2001 2004 New York Passionist Communications, Inc.   NY    
2004 2008         Gillette is not indexed in the 2005-2008 Directories.

2008

Timothy Michael Dolan replaced Egan as archbishop
(2009-).

2011 New York Passionist Residence New York (Bronx) NY   Not indexed beyond the 2011  Directory. His name is listed in the May 2015 Passionist Newsletter, in a reference to May ordinations.
2011  2020         Gillette remained a priest in 2020 but reportedly had not had a parish assignment since 1999. 


Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1972-2009)

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 Gillette'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 March 9, 2021.