Priest accused of sexually abusing woman who sought spiritual guidance
Catholic priest, Father Andre Bain, has been accused of using his position to pressure a woman in her 20's into sexual abuse.
A 44-year-old Catholic priest has been accused of using his position to pressure a woman in her 20’s into sexual abuse.
Father Andre Bain became the head of the St. Vincent Ferrer Church in East Flatbush in July 2014, and shortly after that, a young woman came to him for counseling. During that time, he allegedly pressured her into performing sexual acts, keeping her quiet by promising that they were not committing sin because the sex was not vaginal.
Now, the accuser is suing the Brooklyn Diocese and its bishop, Nicholas DiMarzio, alleging that they did not act fast enough to the complaints, which allowed Bain to continue his behavior to prey on other women.
“Plaintiff believes that Fr. Bain has been carrying out these behaviors for decades in other parishes since his days in seminary,” the lawsuit says.
What’s more, Bain said that he had been doing this for some time and did not believe he would be disciplined: “He told the plaintiff that he acted in this way before and that he would neither get into trouble with the diocese nor lose his priesthood,” the suit adds.
According to the lawsuit, the victim and her mother called the sex abuse hotline, to no avail, and then again the next day with the same results. Finally, the mother hand-delivered a letter of complaint, at which point the diocese acted.
The Brooklyn Diocese’s spokeswoman, Carolyn Erstad, said that the lawsuit’s account was not accurate and that the diocese responded to the first complaint and contacted law enforcement. Bain was subjected to an internal review and was barred from acting as a priest afterward.
“The protocols of our zero tolerance policy were meticulously followed and documented,” Erstad said.
