Assignment Record – Rev. William B. Cahill, s.j.

Summary of Case: A priest of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), Cahill was ordained in 1946. In the first two decades of his career, Cahill taught in high schools in Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts. The following two decades Cahill worked as as an assistant hospital chaplain, in Michigan and in Massachusetts. He died in 1986. In early 2002 several men came forward with accusations that Cahill sexually abused boys at Cheverus High School in Portland, ME in the 1950s.

Ordained:
1946
Died: Feb. 5, 1986

   

Start Stop Parish/Assignment Town/Accusations State Position Notes

1946

Boston archbishop was Richard James Cushing (1944-1970).

1947 Weston College Weston MA theology student  

1947

Hartford bishop was Henry Joseph O'Brien (1945-1968).

1949 Fairfield College Prep. High School Fairfield CT   Fairfield Prep. had 852-893 students, all male.

1949

Albany bishop was Edmund Francis Gibbons (1919-1954).

1950   Auriesville NY tertianship  

1950

Portland bishop was Joseph Edward McCarthy (1932-1955), followed by Daniel Joseph Feeney (1955-1969).

1960 Cheverus High School

Portland

In 2002 Cahill was accused of having sexually abused a freshman Cheverus student in the early 1950s. Cahill's accuser said that on two occasions, the priest pinned him against the blackboard, then fondled him.

In March 2002 a man accused Cahill of attempting to molest him in 1959, when the man was a Cheverus student. Cahill's accuser stated in an email to the Governor's office that a staff member found a young boy, with his pants down, tied to a chair in Cahill's room, and that Cahill subsequently "disappeared" from Cheverus.

ME   Cheverus High had 275-440 students, all male.

1960

Norwich bishop was Vincent Joseph Hines (1959-1975).

1962 St. Robert's Hall Pomfret CT instructor This was the Tertianship of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus.

1960

Worcester bishop was Bernard Joseph Flanagan (1959-1983).

1962 St. Bernard's Fitchburg MA  

Per Cahill's Jesuit assignment record card he served "most of the period" of his tertianship at St. Bernard's.

1962

Boston archdiocese

 

1964 St. Mary's

Boston MA 4/12 St. Mary's had a school with 171 boys and 160 girls.
1964 1966 Boston College High School Boston MA history teacher BC High had 1,276-1,304 students, all male.

1966

Norwich diocese

1967   Pomfret CT  

The 1967 Directory indexes Cahill as at BC High, but it does not list him as there in the Boston archdiocesan pages. Nor is he listed as at his next assignment. Cahill's Jesuit assignment record card states he was in Pomfret.

1967

Humberto Sousa Medeiros replaced Cushing as Boston archbishop (1970-1983).

1972 Immaculate Conception Boston MA 32/37, 27/31, 34/36 This assignment is per the Directories. Cahill's Jesuit assignment record card states he was here 1967-1971.
1967 1972 Boston City Hospital Boston MA assistant chaplain This assignment is per the Directories. Cahill's Jesuit assignment record card states he was here 1967-1971.
1971 1972 Weston College Weston MA   Jesuit residence. The Directories show Cahill to have been at Weston College 1971-1976. The Jesuit assignment record card indicates otherwise.
1972
Detroit archbishop was John Francis Dearden (1958-1980).
1977 St. Joseph's Hospital Mt. Clemens MI assistant chaplain This assignment is per the Jesuit assignment record card for Cahill.

1977

Boston

1978 Veterans' Administration Hospital West Roxbury MA assistant chaplain  
1977 1979 Campion Center Weston MA    

1978

Bernard Francis Law (1984-2002) repolaced Medeiros as Boston archbishop.

1985 Immaculate Conception Cambridge MA 3/5 Immaculate Conception had a school with 210 students. Cahill's Jesuit assignment record card states that he was at this assignment 1978-1981; the Directories list him here 1978-1985.
1981 1985 Immaculate Conception Boston MA 14/21, 13/20  
1981 1985 Boston City Hospital Boston MA chaplain

Cahill is not indexed beyond the 1985 Directory.

Cahill died February 5, 1986.

 

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1947-1985)

Cahill, William Benedict, Jesuits' assignment record, Maine AG Documents, Bates number 000014
Maine AG Document Production, PDF, page 16-17, Bates numbers 000129-000130, July 8, 2005
Maine AG Document Production, May 27, 2005

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 and 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.

This assignment record collates Cahill's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on Sept. 15, 2013.