Matt C. Abbott
July 3, 2006
Alleged predator priest is chaplain at Florida church
By Matt C. Abbott

Father Marshall Roberts, a founder of the suppressed and scandal-ridden Society of St. John (formerly under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Scranton, Pa.) is currently the chaplain of St. Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church in Jacksonville, Fla.

The church is independent of any diocese.

Dr. Jeffrey Bond, president of the College of St. Justin Martyr (which had been associated with the SSJ before separating — well prior to the Vatican-upheld suppression), said in a July 3, 2006 e-letter (edited):

In March 2002 I exposed Roberts as one of the predators of the Society of St. John. (See my original warning here.)

As a seminarian at the Institute of Christ the King in Gricigliano, Italy, Roberts was expelled in 1993 by the seminary's then vice-rector, Father Patrick Perez. Father Perez expelled Roberts for writing explicit love letters to a younger seminarian with whom Roberts was enamored. The younger seminarian, who did not appreciate Roberts' advances, gave the love letters to Father Perez who then saw to it that Roberts was dismissed from the seminary within 24 hours.

Roberts later found a happier home with the Society of St. John, where [priests] Carlos Urrutigoity and Dominic O'Connor gave Roberts the freedom to pursue a 'particular friendship' with a boy who had caught his eye. The object of Roberts' affections this time was a student at St. Gregory's Academy who, upon graduation in 1999, joined the SSJ. Roberts and this boy occupied the same room on the SSJ's property in Shohola. When Roberts later visited the SSJ in France, Roberts was given special permission to spend time alone with this boy in his room after compline.


Dr. Jeffrey Bond can be reached at jmb3@ltis.net.

Related link:

http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14665342&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=416046&rfi=6

© Matt C. Abbott

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Matt C. Abbott

Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic columnist with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication, Media and Theatre from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, and an Associate in Applied Science degree in Business Management from Triton College in River Grove, Ill. He has worked in the right-to-life movement and is a published writer focused on Catholic and social issues. He can be reached at mattcabbott@gmail.com.

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