Boston-area ex-priest who pushed for Cardinal Law's resignation is accused of sexual assault

Rick Sobey, Boston Herald on Jan 9, 2025

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BOSTON — A former local priest who pushed for the ouster of Cardinal Bernard Law during the fallout from the clergy sexual abuse scandal is now accused of sexual assault.

Reverend Walter Cuenin is facing a lawsuit from a former Brandeis University student, who alleges that Cuenin groomed him and sexually abused him on a trip to New York in 2014.

Cuenin, who at the time of the trip was assigned by the Archdiocese of Boston to the Brandeis University Catholic Chaplaincy, allegedly invited the 20-year-old man to go with him to NYC and attend a performance of the New York Philharmonic.

They stayed over at the Millennium Hilton New York Hotel, and there was only one bed in the room so the college student slept on the floor.

During their overnight stay at the hotel, Cuenin reportedly drank alcohol and allegedly told the student he used Viagra to watch pornography.

“During the night that they shared a hotel room at the Millennium Hilton hotel during their overnight stay at the hotel as described above, Father Cuenin sexually abused, sexually assaulted, and made sexual contact with Plaintiff,” reads the lawsuit filed this week in New York.

“Father Cuenin’s sexual assault, sexual abuse and sexual contact with the Plaintiff was in violation of the New York State Penal Law including but not limited to, the New York State Penal Law Sections § 130.20, Sexual Misconduct; § 130.52, Forcible Touching; § 130.55, Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree; and § 130.65 Sexual Abuse in the First Degree,” the lawsuit states.

Cuenin joined the Archdiocese of Boston back in 1972, and he served in churches across the region, including in Cambridge, Newton, Lexington, North Andover, and Marlboro.

When the clergy sexual abuse scandal exploded in 2002, Cuenin was one of the priests who led the push for Cardinal Law to step down. Cuenin helped recruit more than 50 priests to sign a letter calling for Law’s resignation.

Law ended up leaving the Archdiocese of Boston a few days later.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented clergy sexual abuse survivors for decades, is representing the client in this lawsuit.

“Apparently Father Cuenin forgot to look in the mirror when he was demanding that Cardinal Law resign,” Garabedian told The Boston Herald on Thursday. “Sexual abusers know no bounds.

“Just because Father Cuenin requested Cardinal Law’s resignation, it doesn’t mean he wasn’t a sexual abuser himself,” the lawyer added.

Garabedian’s client is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages and more.

“Ultimately, my client is hoping to obtain validation, and he’s hoping to obtain justice in the courts,” Garabedian said, adding that his client is trying to “heal and gain a degree of closure.”

“My client has come forward not only to empower himself and other sexual abuse survivors but also to make the world safer for children,” the lawyer wrote. “It is an honor to represent the courageous survivor regarding the allegations as set forth in the lawsuit.”

Cuenin, who now lives in Virginia, did not immediately respond to comment on Thursday.

The lawsuit names Cuenin as the only party and not the Archdiocese.

“As a general practice we have no comment on any pending litigation matters,” a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement.

Brandeis University did not immediately respond to comment on Thursday.

Garabedian said he’s researching the possibility of adding the leaders of the Archdiocese of Boston and Brandeis University to the lawsuit when it comes to “negligent supervision.”

The lawyer added, “The survivor in this matter wonders why the Archdiocese of Boston and Brandeis University weren’t properly supervising Father Cuenin.”