Rev. David Hazen

Summary of Case: At least eighteen men have accused Hazen of having sexually abused them when they were boys in the dioceses of Baker and Portland OR. Hazen admitted to molesting a boy in 1959. He was sent to treatment, then allowed to return to ministry and access to children. He died in 1983.

Ordained: 1956


     

Start Stop Assignment Town/Accusations State Position Notes

1956

Baker bishop was Francis Peter Leipzig (1950-1971)

1957 St. Peter's Dalles OR

3/3

 

 Parish had a school (St. Mary's Academy) with 169 boys and 152 girls.
1957 1958 Our Lady of the Valley (Immaculate Conception) La Grande OR 3/3  
1957 1958 Sacred Heart Union OR   This was a mission of Our Lady of the Valley in La Grande.
1957 1958 St. Anthony's Elgin OR   This was a mission of Our Lady of the Valley in La Grande.
1958 1959 Eastern Oregon State Hospital

Pendleton

• Hazen was accused in a 1997 lawsuit of sexually abuse of an altar boy in the late 1950s. The accuser stated that he traveled with Hazen to outlying parishes to serve mass, and that some of the trips involved overnight stays, which is when Hazen molested him. (Associated Press State & Local Wire [Portland Ore]
December 12, 2001)

OR

 

 

  
1959 1960 Active Outside the Diocese Milwaukee WI   Hazen signed a confession in 1959, and was sent by the bishop to a "good Catholic psychiatrist" in Milwaukee WI. (The Oregonian
June 25, 2002)
1960 1966 St. Pius X

Klamath Falls

• Three men named Hazen in a 2002 lawsuit as having sexually abused them when they were teenage boys in Klamath Falls. One stated that he and his mother told Bishop Leipzig, who told him that it would be a mortal sin if he ever told anyone else. (Associated Press State & Local Wire [Grants Pass Ore]
February 26, 2002) Fifteen more men emerged in 2002, reporting that they were sexually abused by Hazen as boys. Most of the boys were said to have been abused while Hazen served at St. Pius X. (The Associated Press, carried in OregonLive.com [Grants Pass OR]
November 11, 2003)

OR 3/3, 2/2, 2/3

Hazen was removed from St. Pius X after Monsignor Timothy P. Casey, the priest at Sacred Heart church in Klamath Falls and dean of the southern part of the diocese, warned of inappropriate behavior toward boys by Hazen, and said he needed to get as far away from Klamath Falls as possible "because rumors were about to start flying". (The Oregonian
June 25, 2002)

The diocese settled with the 18 men 2004.

1960 1966 St. Francis Xavier Cabrini Bonanza OR   This was a mission of St. Pius X in Klamath Falls.
1966 1967 Blessed Sacrament Ontario OR 2/2 Parish had a catechetical school.
1966 1967 St. Joachim Huntington OR   This was a missino of Blessed Sacrament in Ontario.
1966 1967 Sacred Heart Durkee OR   This was a missino of Blessed Sacrament in Ontario.
1967 1971 Holy Rosary Hospital Ontario OR Chaplain  
1971 1972 St. Patrick's Vale OR 1/2  
1971 1972 Our Lady of Loretto

Drewsey OR    
1971 1972 St. Charles Juntura OR    
1972 1976 Holy Family Burns OR 1/1  
1972 1976 Our Lady of Loretto Drewsey OR   This was a mission of Holy Family in Burns.
1972 1974 St. Charles Juntura     This was a mission of Holy Family in Burns.
1976 1978 St. Mary's Wasco OR 1/1  
1976 1978 St. Mary's Antelope OR   This was a mission of St. Mary's in Wasco.
1976 1978 St. John the Baptist Grass Valley OR   This was a mission of St. Mary's in Wasco.

1978

Portland OR bishop was Cornelius Michael Power (1974-1986)

1981 St. Helen's

Junction City

• Hazen was accused of molesting four boys in Western OR. As of 2006, the diocese had settled with three of them. [Oregonian
November 12, 2006]

 OR 1/1  
1981 1982 St. Alice's Springfield OR

2/2

In residence

Parish had a school with 202 students.

The 1982 Directory notes Hazen to be "On leave to Marriage Encounter".

1982 1983 St. Mary's Wasco OR 1/1 Hazen died Feb. 4, 1983


Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1957-1983)

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 Hazen'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. 23, 2009