Profiles of 25 priests who are accused of sexual abuse

The Inquirer has identified 25 priests who are alleged to have abused minors in the Diocese of Camden since its inception in 1937. The list below is culled from court documents, interviews, the grand jury report on sex abuse in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, and the church's limited disclosures.

The Camden Diocese says at least 33 of its priests sexually abused children over the years. The church still has not identified all of them.

Other alleged abusers have been named in civil suits or interviews. The Inquirer list includes only those priests who have been identified by more than one accuser, or those convicted of a sex crime, defrocked or permanently removed from ministry.

One priest on the list, William C. O'Connell, did not serve as a priest in the diocese. He abused South Jersey children while serving as a priest in Rhode Island, and was accused of abusing more children while working as a volunteer in a Cape May parish.

In some of these cases, the priests and church deny the abuse.

Many of the accused priests were identified in a landmark 1994 lawsuit against the diocese filed by lawyer Stephen C. Rubino. After nine years, the diocese settled the case for $880,000, admitting no wrongdoing. A total of 23 victims shared in the 2003 settlement.

Claude J. Bender

Ordained: 1965

Allegations: A boy alleged he was abused by Bender during the 1970s.

Church response: The church, which settled the claim for $25,000 in October 1993, said it did not learn of the allegations until after the priest was dead.

Status: Bender died in 1991.

John P. Bernard

Ordained: 1962

Allegations: In a lawsuit and in interviews with The Inquirer, a Tuckerton man said Bernard and other priests abused him for five years, beginning in 1972 when he was 12.

Gary Mulford, 46, one of the victims in the 1994 lawsuit, said he was abused in rectories at St. Gregory's in Magnolia, St. Peter's in Merchantville and Our Lady Star of the Sea in Cape May. He said Bernard tried to rape him as they lay naked in bed with another priest. Mulford's case was part of the 2003 settlement.

In court documents, Bernard denied the charges.

Two brothers who also said Bernard abused them received a $50,000 settlement in 1993.

Church response: Bernard left parish ministry in 1977 at his request for a job as a military chaplain. He retired in 1992 and has been permanently removed from ministry.

Status: Bernard, now 75 and living in Elkton, Md., did not respond to a request for comment.

Henry S. Blaszczynski

Ordained: 1941