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Rev. John Patrick Barry 

©Copyright Protected Siobhan Fleming, PhD Research Clergy Abuse
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Information on Clergy Disclosure List on the website of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston

Basic Background Information


Birth:                   March 17, 1919
Place:                   Toledo, Ohio

School:                Assumption Boarding School, Windsor, Ontario
College:               B. A. Assumption College, University Western Ontario
Seminary:          St. Basil's Novitiate, Toronto, Ontario 

Ordination:      June  29, 1948
Order:                 The Basilian Fathers, Toronto

Death:                 June 2, 1986 

Diocesan Disclosure List

 

The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston (ADGH) released its Clergy Disclosure list on January 31, 2019. And, in an update to their website on June 18, 2021, Rev. John Patrick Barry, CSB was added to the list of 'credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.'

Rev. Barry was a member of the Congregation of St. Basil (CSB), a Canadian order of priests known as The Basilian Fathers that have been in Houston since 1900 when they founded St. Thomas High School.

 

The updated disclosure list included another Basilian priest, William “Herb” Schreiner, C.S.B., bringing the total Basilians on the ADGH list to four.

Although the Archdiocese included Rev. John Patrick Barry, CSB on the list, the information is lacking critical information. His assignments are listed, but there are no dates.

 

There is no information on when and where the abuse occurred, or when the Archdiocese received the complaint. The information provided by the ADGH includes the names of the parishes to which he was assigned, his year of his birth, year of ordination, and year of death.

In the book, "Dictionary of Basilian Biography" published in 2005, editor Rev. P. Wally Platt, CSB described Rev. Barry's assignment history and included some telling statements from which we can infer meaning. 

Fr. Barry had more than 11 assignments crisscrossing the United States and into Canada, sometimes staying less than a year and leaving schools mid-semester. His obituary also described his "treatment" for ill health - could be that 'treatment' was a euphemism often employed by the Church to account for his time getting psychological help. 

Fr. Barry was assigned three different times in Houston at St. Anne's Catholic Church and St. Thomas High School. It is fair to assume his accusation in Houston stem from minors at St. Thomas High School. He ended up in New Mexico and Yuma, Arizona, far away from any Basilian school or Church - which is a red flag. 

 

The last paragraph of his obituary says, "Though he lived away from the community for his last eighteen years, his attachment to the Basilians remained strong." This could mean that he was stripped of his faculties and removed from the Basilian Order. It is an odd thing to say about what the Basilians refer to as their confreres (brother). 

 

Assignment List

Year
Assignment/Location
1934
Assumption High School Basilian Boarding School in Windsor, Ontario Ages 15-19
1943
Graduation Assumption College, Windsor, Ontario - Bachelor of Arts and Catholic Central High School, Detroit, Michigan - Teacher
1986 June
Death - Tucson, Pima County, Arizona
1934
Assumption High School Basilian Boarding School in Windsor, Ontario Ages 15-19
1944-1945
St. Thomas High School, Houston, Texas - Teacher
1945-1949
Seminary, St. Basil's Toronto, Ontario - student
1948 June 29
Ordained by Cardinal McGuigan in Toronto
1949-1950
Catholic Central High School, Detroit, Michigan - Teacher
1950 to January 1952
St. Anne's Catholic Parish, Houston, Texas - Assistant Pastor
1952 - 1956
Catholic Central High School, Detroit, Michigan - Teacher
1953 May
Masters in Education at Univ of Detroit
1956-1962
St. Thomas High School, Houston, Texas - Teacher and Track Coach
1962-1967
Andrean High School in Gary, Indiana - Teacher
1967 - March 1968
Less than a year at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Windsor, Ontario - Assistant Pastor
1968 - 1970
No known record of his whereabouts
1970 - 1980
Assistant Pastor at Holy Ghost Parish, Santa Fe Diocese, Albuquerque, NM and also a position as Hospital Chaplain
1980
Yuma, AZ to be Assistant Pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish
1981 - 1983
In "Treatment" for ill health.
1983
Administrator - not pastor - for the missions at Tubac, AZ - 'coordinating' a number of parishes mostly native peoples.
1983-1986
Assistant Pastor at Sacred Heart Parish, Nogales, AZ.
1943
Graduation Assumption College, Windsor, Ontario - Bachelor of Arts and Catholic Central High School, Detroit, Michigan - Teacher

Red Flags Along the Way 

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Photos of Rev. J.P. Barry

Rev. John Patrick Barry in 1944 at Central Catholic High School in Detroit at his first teaching position.

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Rev. John Patrick Barry in 1945 from is first assignment as a teacher at St. Thomas High School, Houston

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Rev. John Patrick Barry in 1957 yearbook for St. Thomas High School, Houston (top left) with convicted serial rapist Rev. W. H. "Hod" Marshall

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Rev. John Patrick Barry in 1962 yearbook for St. Thomas High School, Houston 

English teacher and Yearbook Editor 

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Rev. John Patrick Barry in the 1966 and 1967 yearbook for Andrean High School in Gary, Indiana with the unfortunate inscription, "You still can't get your arms around me."

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