Assignment Record– Rev. Joseph H. Gorecki

Summary of Case: Gorecki was accused of having sexually abused at least seven boys during the 1960s and 1970s. Shortly after a mother reported to a nun that Gorecki had molested her young son over a three year period, Gorecki was removed from the Bridgeport diocese and sent to the Diocese of Norwich for a few years. Gorecki was involved briefly with the Orthodox Roman Catholic Movement. He died in 1988.

Ordained: 1959
Died: 1988

   

Start Stop Assignment Town/Accusations State Position Notes

1959

Bridgeport bishop was Lawrence Joseph Shehan (1953-1961), followed by Walter William Curtis (1961-1988)

1964 SS. Cyril and Methdodius

Bridgeport

• Accused in lawsuits decades later of sexually abusing boys here between 1960 and 1964. (Connecticut Post
November 13, 2002) One man claimed Gorecki started abusing him when he was six years old, and that the abused lasted until he told his mother three years later. Gorecki was moved out of parish shortly after the mother reported the abuse to a nun at school. (Connecticut Post
October 17, 2003)

CT 3/3 Parish had a school with 441-269 students and a commercial high school dept. with 74-45 students.

1964

Norwich bishop was Vincent Joseph Hines (1959-1975)

1966 St. Mary's Jewett City CT 2/3 Parish had a school with 453-462 students.
1964 1966 St. Catherine of Siena Preston CT   This was a mission of St. Mary's in Jewett City.

1966

Bridgeport bishop was Walter William Curtis (1961-1988)

1970 St. Joseph's Shelton CT 2/3, 2/2 Parish had a school with 563-502 students.
1970 1971 St. Teresa's

Trumbull

• The diocese settled in 2003 with six people who alleged sexual abuse by Gorecki in the 1960s and 1970s, when they were boys. Another man later claimed that Gorecki sexually abused him at St. Teresa's in 1971, when he was age 12. (Connecticut Post Online
June 16, 2006)

CT 3/5 Parish had a school with 598 students.
1971 1973 Holy Name Stamford CT 2/2 Parish had a school with 314-305 students.
1973 1974 Assumption Westport CT 2/3 Parish had a school with 205 students.
1974 1975 St. Vincent Hospital Bridgeport CT Associate Chaplain  
1975 1978 St. Mary's Norwalk CT 2/4  
1978 1985 Absent on Leave      

Gorecki was involved briefly with the Orthodox Roman Catholic Movement. He is known to have traveled to Richmond VA to offer mass for a new ORCM community in the late 1970s (www.fatimachapel.org). By 1979 a circuit system set up among eleven priests offered the Tridentine Mass in sixteen states, including the California, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey and New York.

Gorecki is not indexed beyond the 1985 Directory. He died in 1988. (Connecticut Post
October 18, 2002)


Source: Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1960-1985).

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 Gorecki's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with seven allegations as they are reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegations 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 January 6, 2019.