A New Jersey priest from the Metuchen diocese has been sentenced to four years in state prison for the sexual abuse of a child, which he admitted to committing for a three-year period nearly 30 years ago.

The Metuchen diocese priest, Fr. Thomas P. Ganley, admitted to sexually abusing a young girl beginning in 1990, when she was just 14 years old, regularly over the course of the next three years. At the time, he was a priest at St. Cecelia Church in Woodbridge, and the abuse allegedly took place in the church as well as in her home.

Ganley was an authority figure over the victim, since he was the head of the parish’s Youth Ministry program, according to state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal.

The victim called the Clergy Abuse Task Force Hotline to report Ganley’s actions, and just two days later, he was arrested. In April, Ganley pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault as part of a plea deal he was offered, landing him four years in state prison.

Even though he confessed to the crime and pleaded guilty, Ganley referred to the sexual abuse as a consensual—despite the fact that she was a child at the time.

The sentencing marks an important moment for New Jersey’s response to Catholic sex abuse claims, as the charges brought against Ganley were the first brought through the New Jersey Clergy Abuse Task Force.

The task force was created last September by Grewal to investigate allegations of this kind of abuse in the Roman Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal, and was part of a response to a Pennsylvania grand jury’s groundbreaking report of the sexual abuse of more than 1,000 child victims of priests within the Catholic Church according to the Washington Post.

The prison time isn’t the only thing required as of Ganley as a result of this sentencing. He will also be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law. He will be prohibited from having any sort of contact with the victim, as well as from having any unsupervised contact with any children under 18 years old.

Ganley’s prison sentence is a good step forward, Grewal noted, because it “demonstrates that we take these allegations of sexual abuse by clergy members very seriously and will act swiftly to secure justice for survivors.”

According to the Daily Voice, Grewal also said, the sentencing of the abusive priest proves that “even if the abuse occurred many years ago, charges may still be viable and we will pursue them vigorously.”

The task force has more work to do in this case, because it has not yet determined if there is sufficient evidence of a cover-up by others in the church. The task force “will work equally hard to determine if the Church was aware of the abuse but failed to take action or prevent it from recurring, which will be the subject of a state grand jury presentment and report.”

If you are a victim of childhood sex abuse by a Catholic priest—even if the abuse occurred years ago—you may be eligible to file a lawsuit and pursue compensation. Of course, filing a lawsuit cannot take away the pain and trauma caused by this kind of abuse, but it can at least help to provide monetary compensation, as well as hold those responsible accountable for their actions.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.