A lawsuit launched in March has accused Fr. Thomas Rosica, the national director of World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto, of sexually assaulting a young priest in the lead up to event, while London Bishop Ronald Fabbro is facing scrutiny for failing to act when informed about the allegations in 2015 or forward them to his religious order, the Congregation of St. Basil (Basilians), according to the online news agency The Pillar. Both men are members of the Basilians.
It has led to Rosica’s faculties for priestly ministry being withdrawn. A faculty is authorization by an ecclesial authority that enables a priest to teach, sanctify or govern for the good of the Church. It is withdrawn pending the outcome of the process.
“It’s in the legal hands and I cannot comment,” Rosica told OSV News Aug. 30 when asked about the case. Rosica’s attorney, J. David Murphy, also declined to comment to OSV News.
The suit, in which the plaintiff has demanded a jury trial, seeks damages of at least $3.7 million plus court costs.
The plaintiff, a now-55-year-old priest named in the suit as “M.B.”, also accuses Rosica’s order, the Basilian Fathers of Toronto, of being “vicariously responsible and liable for the actions of Rosica.”
The allegations have yet to be proven in a court of law.
The suit, according to The Pillar, which broke the news Aug. 28, alleges Rosica developed a mentoring relationship with the plaintiff, who was newly ordained at the time, in the 1990s. The priest was in graduate studies at the time, The Pillar reports. The priest was also invited to assist Rosica in preparing for World Youth Day, which drew thousands of young Catholics to Toronto in the summer of 2002.
Rosica is alleged to have developed a close relationship with the young priest, one of “authority and trust,” the lawsuit alleges. This “allowed Rosica an opportunity to be alone with the plaintiff and to exert control over him, prey upon him and sexually abuse him.”
Rosica has denied any improper conduct and has urged a judge to dismiss the lawsuit so that the allegations can play out in a canonical court. He has argued that the Ontario court has no jurisdiction in this dispute and that he and the plaintiff, as ordained priests and the alleged assaults occurring while “engaged in duties on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church,” means an ecclesiastical court should be where the matter is heard.
In a separate defense statement, the Basilian Fathers of Toronto echoed that argument, stating that “as an ordained priest, the plaintiff’s relationship with the Roman Catholic Church, including the Basilians, is governed by Canon Law and is wholly ecclesiastical in nature.”
The Basilian Fathers also countered that “the plaintiff has not accessed and exhausted canon law procedures in relation to the claims alleged.”
Both Rosica and the Basilian fathers invoked the legal doctrine of laches in their defense statements, claiming the plaintiff had waited an unreasonably long time to come forward with his allegations.
However, the plaintiff said in his claim he had “only recently been able to face these effects,” having been “incapable of proceeding due to the mental and psychological impact of the abuse, including serious addictions.”
The complaint was filed through the Canadian bishops’ system to report sexual abuse or cover up, reported The Pillar. It added that the complaint was forwarded to the Archdiocese of Toronto and is under consideration at the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops.
The Archdiocese of Toronto says it is aware of the allegations against Rosica, but noted such matters involving a priest in a religious order default to the order, in this case the Basilians, and the Archdiocese would not impede that process. The Diocese of London has not responded to an inquiry from The Catholic Register.
Originally from Rochester, New York, Rosica has held a number of high-profile positions with the Catholic Church and its entities. His career took off following WYD 2002. He went on to found and run Salt+Light Television in 2003 and was appointed a consultor to the then-Pontifical Council for Social Communication in 2009. In 2013, he was appointed a Vatican spokesman ahead of the conclave that elected Pope Francis and was a media advisor at two Synods of Bishops, in 2008 and 2018. Rosica was also the English-language liaison at the Vatican summit on clergy sexual abuse in February 2019 and English-language media attache of the Holy See press office.
Rosica would run into trouble in 2019, when he resigned his position at Salt+Light following serial plagiarism allegations in his published works.
Fabbro has been Bishop of London since 2002 and the previous five years was superior general of the Basilians. Fabbro spent years helping craft the Canadian bishops abuse policy, which was adopted in September 2018. He has also been at the forefront of confronting abuse in the diocese in recent years after abuse allegations and cover-ups dating back to the 1950s. In late 2019, the diocese confirmed that a list of priests credibly accused of abusing minors released by SNAP — Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) SW Ontario — was “substantially correct.”
Fabbro met with many survivors and their families and committed to supporting them on their journey.
(With files from OSV)