Rev. J. Vincent Fitzgerald, O.M.I.

Assignment Record– Rev. J. (James) Vincent Fitzgerald, O.M.I.

Summary of Case: A priest of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate ordained in 1950 in Belleville IL, Fitzgerald moved in and out of a number of dioceses during his career, including Belleville, Springfield and Peoria IL, St. Paul and Minneapolis, Duluth, Crookston and New Ulm MN, Sioux Falls SD, and Springfield-Cape Girardeau MO. He was involved with orphanages in Peoria IL and Sisseton SD. He returned to his Order in Belleville sometime in the early 1990s and died in 2009. Fitzgerald was accused in a 2010 lawsuit of having repeatedly sexually abused two residents of the Tekakwitha Indian Orphanage in the 1960s: a girl ages 4-13, and a 10 or 11-year-old boy. In a February 2014 lawsuit Fitzgerald was accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy around 1978. He had met the boy while at a pastoral education program at a parish in the New Ulm diocese, and invited him to serve as an altar boy for two weeks at his Squaw Lake MN parish. It is during those two weeks that the abuse is said to have occurred. The lawsuit also claimed Fitzgerald sexually abused another child during his time in Squaw Lake, on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation near Bemidji MN. In November 2015 a jury awarded the plaintiff in this case $8.1 million.

Born: December 9, 1919
Ordained: May 1950
Died: September 7, 2009

Start	Stop	Assignment	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1941	1943	St. Henry's College	Belleville	IL	student
1943	1944	St. Peter's Novitiate	Mission	TX	student
1944	1944	Major Seminary, DeMazenod Scholasticate	San Antonio	TX	student
1944	1950
1950 Belleville diocese was Henry J. Althoff (1913-1947), followed byAlbert Rudolph Zuroweste (1947-1976).	1951			IL		Fitzgerald is not indexed in the 1951 Directory. He was ordained in 1950 in Belleville, IL.
1951 Springfield IL bishop was William Aloysius O'Connor (1948-1975).	1954	St. Joseph's Novitiate	Godfrey	IL	Procurator
1951 Springfield L diocese	1954	Alton State Hospital	Alton	IL	Chaplain
1954 St. Paul archbishop was John Gregory Murray (1931-1956), followed by William Otterwell Brady (1956-1961).	1957	King's House	Buffalo	MN		This was the Order's retreat house.
11/13/57 Duluth bishop was Thomas Anthony Welch (1925-1959), followed by Francis Joseph Schenk (1960-1969).	9/10/61	St. Michael's	Northome	MN	1/1	Missions -St. Theresa's in Effie, Our Lady of the Snows in Big Fork.
1961 Peoria bishop was John Baptist Franz (1959-1971).	1962	Guardian Angel Home	Peoria	IL	In residence.	This was an orphanage with 40 children.
1962	1963					Fitzgerald is not indexed in the 1963 Directory, nor is he listed at his previous or next assgnments in the diocesan pages.
9/01/63 Duluth diocese	9/01/64	Holy Cross	Orr	MN	1/1
9/01/63 Duluth diocese	8/02/66	Immaculate Conception	Nett Lake	MN	1/1
1967 Sioux Falls bishop was Lambert Anthony Hoch (1956-1978).	1968	St. Matthew's, St. Joseph's, St. Catherine's	Sisseton • Accused in a July 2010 lawsuit of sexually abusing a girl numerous times when she was ages 4-13 at the Tekakwitha Orphanage. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of multiple former residents of the orphanage and names multiple priests, religious brothers and nuns as perpetrators of abuse there. Fitzgerald is said to have come to the girl's bed at night, penetrate her vagina to the point of her bleeding, and trying to penetrate her with his penis. He also is said to have forced her to masturbate him. • Accused in same 2010 lawsuit of sexually abusing a 10 or 11-year-old boy in the mid-1960s at the orphanage. Fitzgerald is said to have repeatedly rubbed lotion on the boy's penis and testicles.	SD		These along with the Tekakwitha Indian Orphanage were missions of St. Peter's in Sisseton. Defendants in the July 2010 lawsuit were the Diocese of Sioux Falls, Sisters of the Divine Savior, and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
1968 Duluth diocese	1969	St. Michael's	Northome	MN	1/1	Mission - St. Catherine's in Squaw Lake.
8/01/68 Shenk was succeeded as Duluth bishop by Paul Francis Anderson (1969-1982), followed by Robert Henry Brom (1983-1989). New Ulm bishop was Raymond Alphonse Lucker (1975-2000).	10/28/83	St. Catherine's	Squaw Lake • Accused of sexually abusing a boy during this time on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation near Bemidji. • In a lawsuit filed in February 2014, Fitzgerald was accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old Minnesota boy over a two-week period in the 1970s at St. Catherine's. Fitzgerald is said to have met the boy at St. Thomas More in Willmar MN, in the Diocese of New Ulm. Fitzgerald was attending a 12-week pastoral education program there and helping out at the parish. He reportedly invited the boy to Squaw Lake to serve as a temporary altar boy.	MN	1/1	Mission - St. Michael's in Northome 1973-74 Chapel - Inger (St. Charles in Pennington, Crookston diocese) 1976-79. A civil trial against the Diocese of New Ulm related to this case was held in October 2015. The plaintiff was awarded $8.1 million.
1983 Crookston bishop was Victor Herman Balke (1976-2007).	1986	St. Anne's	Naytahwaush • Accused in a lawsuit filed in November 2013 of sexually abusing an 8 or 9 year-old altar boy at St. Anne's in the mid-1980s.	MN	1/1	Missions - St. Francis Cabrini in Big Elbow Lake; St. Benedict in White Earth. The 1986 Directory lists St. Benedict's in White Earth as Fitzgerald's parish, with St. Francis Cabrini in Big Elbow Lake and St. Anne's in Naytahwaush as missions. Defendants in the November 2013 lawsuit were the Diocese of Crookston and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
1986	1987					Fitzgerald is not indexed in the 1987 Directory.
1987 Springfield- Cape Girardeau bishop was John Joseph Leibrecht (1984-2008).	1988	Immaculate Heart of Mary	Mansfield	MO	3/3 Fitzgerald was assigned to IHM's mission, St. William's, as the only priest.	Missions - St. William's in Gainesville; St. Leo the Great in Ava.
1988	1991					Fitzgerald is not indexed in the 1989, 1990 or 1991 Directories.
1991 St. Paul-Minneapolis archbishop was John Robert Roach (1975-1995).	1993	Oblate Provincial Offices	St. Paul	MN
1993 Belleville bishop was Wilton Daniel Gregory (1993-2004), follwed by Edward Kenneth Braxton (2005-).	2006	St. Henry's Oblate Residence	Belleville	IL		Fitzgerald is not indexed beyond the 2006 Directory. He died September 7, 2009.

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1950-2006)

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 Fitzgerald '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 November 9, 2015.