By NANCY WEST, InDepthNH.org
MANCHESTER – Bishop Peter Libasci categorically denies claims made in the civil lawsuit filed in New York saying he sexually abused a boy in 1983 and 1984, and will “vigorously” fight the allegations in court, according to his lawyer Michael J. Connolly of the Hinckley Allen law firm.
Libasci, who was named the tenth bishop of the Manchester Diocese on Sept. 19, 2011, has not been charged with any crime in connection with the allegations involving an altar boy who was then 12 or 13.
“The allegation that, almost 40 years ago, Bishop Libasci assaulted an individual while serving as a parish priest in Deer Park, New York, is not true,” Connolly said in an email to InDepthNH.org.
“Bishop Libasci has dedicated over 43 years to serving others as a Roman Catholic priest, during which time he has earned an impeccable reputation for treating all individuals with dignity and respect. While Bishop Libasci has great compassion for victims of sexual abuse, he will be forced to vigorously defend against these false allegations in court,” Connolly wrote.
In a letter to the faithful two years ago, Bishop Libasci wrote about efforts to be more transparent about allegations of abuse by priests in a letter called “Restoring Trust.”
“Additionally, I wanted to let you know that the Diocese of Manchester has launched a new section on our website designed to provide further transparency to our ongoing commitment to protecting minors,” Libasci wrote in the July 2019 letter.
“Here we have not only compiled resources for victim-survivors, families, and those who wish to report abuse, but the site also includes a single place to review the names of priests who have been accused of sexual abuse of a minor since 1950. I am publishing names that have already been made public on some level and also including two names more-recently reported and investigated of abuse that occurred more than forty-five years ago. We are now aggregating this information in a readily accessible format at www.catholicnh.org/restoringtrust.
“On behalf of my predecessors and the Church in New Hampshire, I am sorry. I seek your forgiveness for the grave sins of abuse and betrayal of trust that representatives of the Church committed. Each and every day, I pray that victim-survivors find healing. I also fervently pray that we never allow such darkness to enter our Church again. With these new efforts, I hope to continue on a path to restoring your trust,” Libasci wrote in July 2019.
The recent lawsuit, filed in the Suffolk County Supreme Court in New York accused Libasci of abusing the man when the man was an altar boy at Saints Cyril and Methodius Roman Catholic Church.
The church, the parish school in Deer Park, New York, the Sisters of Saint Joseph who ran the school, are also named in the lawsuit.
The Diocese of Manchester has said Libasci continues to serve as Bishop and said the matter was reported to civil authorities as required by protocol.