Woman files lawsuit against Catholic Congregation for childhood rape

DELAWARE – A Maryland woman has sued the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales for childhood sexual abuse as a 10-year-old.

The 74-year-old is seeking monetary damages for lifelong personal injuries inflicted by a Roman Catholic priest, identified as George Mahoney, for her 1960 rape by Mahoney.

Mahoney, a Wilmington native, was an Oblate priest from 1925 to 1971, when he died. From 1956 to 1969, Mahoney was the pastor, assigned by the Oblates to Mary Our Mother of Sorrows and St. Peter the Apostle Churches in Centreville and Queenstown. It is alleged that one Sunday after Mass in 1960, Mahoney asked four 10-year-old girls to help him count the Sunday offering money. He then took at least two children separately into his bedroom, where he reportedly forced oral sex on each child.

Mahoney then allegedly threatened the victim and told her to never tell anyone because, “If you tell anyone about this you will go to HELL”, he said. The woman reported Mahoney when she was in her early 20s to the Diocese of Wilmington priest Edward Carley, who allegedly covered up her accusations.

We’re told under the Delaware Child Victims Act of 2007, the Oblates were sued at least 41 times by victims of their predator priests.