Bissonnette

But even that experience, he told me, did not compare to what Father Bissonnette did to him in the late 1950s, during what was supposed to be an innocent overnight visit to the home of Bissonnette's parents in nearby Grosvenordale.

David Margolick: Tommy Deary's Long Overdue Justice David Margolick 2011

For half a century, another man from Moosup admonished he and his friends had been trying to banish Bissonnette from their minds; how would I feel if, as a result of one of my phone calls, someone went home and blew out his brains?

David Margolick: Tommy Deary's Long Overdue Justice David Margolick 2011

She'd gone to school with Tommy Deary, whom Bissonnette had repeatedly molested in the early 1960s, when Tommy was an altar boy in nearby Putnam.

David Margolick: Tommy Deary's Long Overdue Justice David Margolick 2011

The next morning, it was as if nothing had ever happened, and Bissonnette took the boys home.

David Margolick: Tommy Deary's Long Overdue Justice David Margolick 2011

For half a century, another man from Moosup admonished he and his friends had been trying to banish Bissonnette from their minds; how would I feel if, as a result of one of my phone calls, someone went home and blew out his brains?

David Margolick: Tommy Deary's Long Overdue Justice David Margolick 2011

A New Mexico man, one of many who'd sued the Archdiocese of Santa Fe for Bissonnette's misdeeds -- it eventually shelled out more than $2 million to get rid of these cases -- begged me not to quote him by name, even though it appeared on court papers: he had never told his children.

David Margolick: Tommy Deary's Long Overdue Justice David Margolick 2011

They were intent on compiling a case against Bissonnette, then tracking him down -- they knew he was somewhere in New Mexico, the place to which the Church had sent so many perverted priests -- first to confront him with what he had done, then to get him arrested or at least defrocked.

David Margolick: Tommy Deary's Long Overdue Justice David Margolick 2011

The trip to Grosvenordale, like Moosup and Putnam an old mill town located in Connecticut's northeast corner, was supposed to be a special treat, a reward Bissonnette, one of the priests at All Hallows Catholic Church in Moosup, bestowed on his favorite altar boys.

David Margolick: Tommy Deary's Long Overdue Justice David Margolick 2011

Not surprisingly, they'd gotten only resistance and disdain from the Diocese of nearby Norwich, Conn., with which Bissonnette had been affiliated.

David Margolick: Tommy Deary's Long Overdue Justice David Margolick 2011

But even that experience, he told me, did not compare to what Father Bissonnette did to him in the late 1950s, during what was supposed to be an innocent overnight visit to the home of Bissonnette's parents in nearby Grosvenordale.

David Margolick: Tommy Deary's Long Overdue Justice David Margolick 2011