Father Thomas Rosica sued for sexual assault in Canada

Rome Newsroom, Sep 5, 2024 / 10:50 am

A lawsuit filed in Ontario, Canada, earlier this year accuses Father Thomas Rosica, CSB, a once-prominent media figure, of sexually abusing a younger priest more than two decades ago — an allegation Rosica denies.

Rosica was CEO of the Salt and Light Media Foundation for 16 years and a prominent writer, speaker, and media figure before resigning from a number of senior positions in 2019 following reports that many of his written works contained significant plagiarism.

Rosica was also formerly an English-language spokesman for the Vatican and president of Assumption University in Windsor, Ontario.

In a lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of Justice in London, Ontario, on March 1, the plaintiff claims Rosica “sexually abused, assaulted, and molested” him about 24 years ago while in a position of “authority and trust,” and that Rosica’s religious community, the Congregation of St. Basil, “took no steps to stop the behavior or to protect the plaintiff.”

In his statement of defense responding to the allegations, Rosica denied having “had a close personal relationship” with the plaintiff or “engaging in any improper conduct” with him.

Additionally, he maintains that the civil courts do not have jurisdiction over the complaint because he and the plaintiff are both ordained priests and “the alleged assaults occurred while they were engaged in duties on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church” and thus “would be governed by canon law.”

“The court should defer to the ecclesiastical court and its application of canon law,” Rosica’s statement says.

But the plaintiff, a now-55-year-old priest identified only by his initials in the lawsuit, has told CNA he turned to the civil courts after concluding that the Church was not taking his concerns seriously or holding Rosica responsible for his actions.

The plaintiff, who spoke to CNA on condition that his name be withheld, said he had shared his concerns about Rosica with his own bishop in 2015 and Rosica’s religious superior in 2023 but that he “lost confidence that the Church was taking my concerns seriously” after Rosica continued in ministry and continued to be an invited guest at retreats in Canada.

The plaintiff said to his knowledge there is currently no canonical case against Rosica.

He also told CNA he reported what he believes to be a lack of appropriate response by his bishop through the online reporting tool of the Canadian bishops’ conference on March 20 but has not been contacted further after being told his complaint was being forwarded to Canada’s apostolic nuncio and the Dicastery for Bishops in Rome.

CNA on Wednesday contacted the office of the metropolitan bishop for the plaintiff’s ecclesiastical area, the office of the apostolic nuncio, and on Thursday the Dicastery for Bishops but did not hear back by publication time.

Religious order responds

In the lawsuit, a copy of which has been obtained by CNA, the plaintiff claims Rosica nurtured a mentorship relationship with him when he was a new priest in the mid-1990s, a relationship that continued several years and included unwanted physical contact, such as long hugs, until it escalated around the year 2000, when over the course of several months, Rosica “exposed himself” to him, “groped and fondled” his body, “used sexually explicit language,” and “engaged in other sexual activities with the plaintiff.”

The lawsuit also alleges Rosica may have engaged in similar behaviors with others.

The Basilian Fathers, also known as the Congregation of St. Basil, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

The suit claims that as Rosica’s religious congregation, it “provided Rosica with a position of respect and trust,” that “the Basilians knew that Rosica had the propensity to engage in such deviant behaviors,” and that it was negligent by failing to investigate and take action once “fully aware of his shortcomings.”

In a statement of defense filed with the court, the Basilian Fathers “deny Father Rosica engaged in improper conduct with the plaintiff” or that “it had or owed any duties to, or was negligent in any way with respect to, the plaintiff.”

The congregation said in its statement that “the court should defer to the ecclesiastical court and its application of canon law,” as “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 said the plaintiff “has no basis upon which to assert the false allegations” that the congregation took no steps to protect the alleged victim or that it “took steps to attempt to cover up [Rosica’s] behavior.”

Contacted by CNA, the Basilian Fathers declined to comment on the case stating that the congregation has “faith in our legal system and the canon law system.” A representative of the congregation also declined to clarify Rosica’s current standing as a priest.

The congregation would not comment on reporting by the Catholic news website The Pillar, which first published a news story about the lawsuit on Aug. 28, that the Basilian Fathers suspended Rosica’s faculties for priestly ministry in March.

In his statement of claim, the alleged victim requested pecuniary damages of over 3.5 million Canadian dollars ($2.6 million), including for “pain and suffering” and “mental distress.”

“Rosica facilitated the abuse under the guise of his role as teacher, priest, and guidance counselor, and further with a view of implicitly or explicitly helping the plaintiff’s career within the Church in return for Rosica’s sexual advances,” the statement of claim says. “As a result of Rosica’s actions, the plaintiff’s academic prowess was lessened. He experienced physical, emotional, and spiritual illness in the months following the abuse.”

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