Hi All - I posted this on the Carol Ann Dougherty thread, but thought it might be helpful here as well.
First of all - I want to thank all of you for keeping this thread - and case! - alive for so long. I'm not a detective, but I do have first hand information about Sabadish. (I'll not refer to him as 'Father'. In my opinion, he does NOT deserve that title)
I tried to block this man out of my memory, but a recent message from a family member telling me what he did to her made me want to find out more about the person I was forced to see on a daily basis for many years. I apologize if this is rambling, but there is so much I've processed about him over the past few days that my head is spinning.
He spent the better part of 3 years stationed at my home parish, but this isn't listed in his files. It was Sacred Heart in Bethlehem, PA. My mother took to him and the man was at my house EVERY DAY. I know my father didn't agree with it because they fought about it constantly. If you look at the files of where he was stationed, there are several different versions and they don't match up. From what I can recall - and I have a message in to the Diocese of Allentown because I want the exact dates - he was stationed in Bethlehem - the Miller Heights section - from 1976 - 1979, but I think he was there longer. There is a suspension listed in his years of service from 76 - 79, so that could be it, but like I said, I thought it was longer than that.
In those years, my family got to know his family. Just to address some of the questions I saw floating in this thread: I believe they were from Minersville or Branchdale and the sisters lived in an old row home there. I can't remember if it was Minersville or Branchdale. I apologize!! He had 2 sisters that I know of and met: Peggy and Agnella. Agnella had some kind of deformity in one of her hands. For some reason, I thought Peggy had married, but her husband passed away at a young age, but again, the details are a bit foggy right now.
I do remember that he wasn't a very nice man. He would yell at me and my friends a lot and didn't seem to like children. I remember once when I was caught smoking when I was about 10. It was the first time I tried it. My mother made me go to confession and it was him hearing confessions. He knew it was me because he was at my house when I got caught. (This would have been 1977) He yelled at me in the confessional and said he would shove 10 cigarettes in my mouth and make me smoke them all at once and see how I liked it then. I just thought it was a strange thing for a priest to say during a confession!
His records show that there were credible allegations of molestation against him and that he was sued. I don't think I was a victim, at least not that I remember, but have found out that another family member was.
He died in 1999 and is buried in St. Mary's Star of the Sea in Branch Township, PA.
If you have other questions, I'd be happy to answer what I can remember. I'm currently trying to find out all I can about him. My father died in 2000 and my mother is in a nursing home battling Parkinsons. I'm trying to figure out how to ask her what she really knew about him, but I don't know if I will ever get the truth.
Again - THANK YOU. If nothing else, I feel like I can get this out here, because I don't know who to talk to about this. When I found out all of the skeletons in his closet. I was sick to my stomach!!
As an aside, in looking at his (Sabadish) funeral arrangements, it has survivors listed as Anna Fitzgerald and Peggy Sabadish.... I'm thinking maybe Anna is the sister who was married and Peggy never was? However, Agnella is NOT listed and I KNOW there was a sister named Agnella. I met her. I remember the way she held her hand and I remember that name. Also, I've called the Diocese of Allentown and I spoke to someone there about all of the holes in his record and why Sacred Heart was not listed in his files. They are doing some research and said they will try to find out and get back to me by tomorrow. It says he lived in a private residence during the time he was at Sacred Heart, yet he said mass and heard confessions while he was there. I just can't wrap my head around all of this.:banghead:
