By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
The man who accused Manchester Bishop Peter Libasci of sexual abuse is dead, likely ending the lawsuit filed in New York.
Lawyers for plaintiff Charles O’Connor notified the clerk in the Suffolk County Supreme Court on Wednesday that their client died.
“We are saddened to advise the Court that, on or around July 17, 2024, our client passed away,” attorney Christian Curran wrote in a letter filed with the court Wednesday.
Curran is asking the court to put a stay on the case for the time being. Under New York law, the case could conceivably continue if a substitute plaintiff is found to carry the case forward. Typically, that would be a person related in some way to the original plaintiff who can also claim to have been harmed by the defendant’s actions.
The lawsuit alleged Libasci abused O’Connor in the 1980s while Libasci was a parish priest in the Catholic diocese of Rockville Centre in New York, and O’Connor was an altar boy.
O’Connor’s cause of death is not known at this time. He first filed his sex abuse lawsuit against Libasci three years ago in the summer of 2021, but the case was frozen as the Catholic diocese of Rockville Centre filed for bankruptcy. Late last year, a federal judge ordered more than 130 lawsuits against the diocese unfrozen, including O’Connor’s.
Rockville Centre is one of the largest bankruptcy filings since the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal first broke open more than 20 years ago.
Libasci has maintained his innocence since news of the lawsuit first broke. Libasci’s legal team filed a motion in 2021 that denies all of the allegations and demands that the case be dismissed. Libasci is also seeking to recover attorney fees from his accuser. The court docket shows extensive litigation between the plaintiff and defense teams over the release of evidence in discovery, with Rockville Centre trying to hold back information it deems not part of the case.
O’Connor’s complaint claims he was groped by Libasci at around the age of 13, when Libasci was a parish priest in the Rockville Centre diocese. The parish and parochial school where Libasci was assigned are also named as defendants. The lawsuit claims that church officials should have known Libasci should not have been around children.
Libasci served as the auxiliary bishop in Rockville Centre starting in 2017. He’s been the bishop in Manchester for the last 10 years, taking over for scandal-plagued Bishop John McCormack who was found to have helped former Boston Archbishop Bernard Cardinal Law cover up decades of sexual abuse.
Under the “Vos estis” rules implemented by Pope Francis, Libasci is subject to an internal Church investigation once the civil litigation is complete. The “Vos estis” investigation into Libasci is being handled by Worcester Bishop Roger McManus, though it is on hold pending a resolution in the lawsuit.