Boston Priest Charged With Paying Teen for Sex at Church
A Boston-area Roman Catholic priest repeatedly paid a teenage boy for sex inside the rectory of a church in the 1980s, according to criminal charges filed Thursday that dealt yet another blow to the Archdiocese of Boston.
Father Paul Hurley, 59, became the latest priest in the archdiocese to face child sex abuse charges after he was indicted in Middlesex County on two counts of child rape for allegedly engaging in oral sex as often as once a month over about 12 months in 1987 and 1988, Dist. Atty. Martha Coakley said at a news conference.
On most occasions, Father Hurley would give the boy, whose name was withheld, small sums of money that he used to buy drugs and alcohol, Coakley said. The teenager “believed he was paid based on how well he performed sexually,” Coakley said.
Hurley will be arraigned Aug.18.
The Boston Archdiocese has been at the center of a global scandal over sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests. At least three other priests in the Boston Archdiocese face criminal charges related to child sexual abuse.
Observers have said the abuse of children by priests and the church hierarchy’s apparent cover-up of the behavior have presented the Catholic Church with its most serious challenge in modern times.
The archdiocese declined to comment.
Hurley is still a priest, but he is not assigned to a parish.
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