Rev. Clarence Boucher-Assignment

Rev. Clarence Boucher

Ordained: 1940

Woman gave public testimony in Feb. 2007 that Boucher had touched her inappropriately when she was 13 and that this occurred at St. Jean the Baptiste in Lynn. His behavioral habits were well-known within the parish. Boucher was never punished by the Archdiocese. He died in 2001.

Start	Stop	Assignment	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1940 Boston archbishop was William Henry O'Connell (1907-1944), replaced by Richard James Cushing (1944-1970)	1946	Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary	Bellingham	MA	2/2
1946	1948	St. Alphonse (French)	Beverly	MA	2/2
1948	1958	St. John the Baptiste (French)	Lynn • A woman spoke publicly in 2007 of having been sexually abused by Boucher in the 1950s at this parish, when she was 13 years old. A friend later told her, "It happened to all of us." (Roslindale - West Roxbury Transcript February 28, 2007)	MA	3/3, 3/4, 3/5, 2/4	Parish had an elementary school with 183-254 boys and 164-215 girls, and a high school with 102-54 boys and 118-57 girls.
1958	1967	St. Mary's (French)	Marlboro	MA	4/4, 2/4	Parish had a school with 171-181 boys and 170-184 girls.
1967	1969	St. Mary's	Ayer	MA	1/2	Parish had a school with 106-109 boys and 112=98 girls.
1969 Cushing was replaced as archbishop by Humberto Sousa Medeiros (1970-1983)	1974	Presentation of Mary Academy	Methuen	MA	Chaplain	School had 198-183 students, all girls. In the 1970 Directory Boucher is indexed as at this assigment, but is not listed there in the Boston diocesan pages.
1974	1982	St. Jean Baptiste (French)	Lynn	MA	3/3	Parish had a school with 267-124 students.
1982 Medeiros was replaced by Bernard Francis Law (1984-2002)	2001	Retired	Salem	MA		Boucher died Oct. 18, 2001

Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: Kenedy & Sons, 1941-2002).

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 & 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.