A warning about Fr. Mark Amaral, pastor of St. Edward Catholic Church in Newark, CA (and information on Fr. Jeff Finley)
Even many "good" priests are insensitive toward clergy abuse victims
6/6/24 UPDATE: I've received word from the Oakland Diocese that the planned June 9 public "birthday" Mass intention for ousted priest Fr. Jeff Finley at St. Edward's in Newark is canceled (and will never occur again) by orders of Bp. Barber. Thanks to all who supported my fight to stop this.
WARNING: This article contains graphic details of priest abuse.
I urge anyone who may encounter Fr. Mark Amaral, pastor of St. Edward Catholic Church in Newark, CA, to exercise extreme caution if you’re considering contacting him about priest abuse. After a disturbing phone conversation this morning with Amaral, I am not confident that he is committed to maintaining an abuse-free church environment or that he is interested in showing sensitivity toward priest abuse victims.
I called Amaral this morning to ask him why, once again, St. Edward Church plans to offer June 9 Mass intentions in celebration of the birthday of their former pastor, Fr. Jeff Finley, who was removed from ministry in 2020 for sexual misconduct. This case is very important to me, because I am the one who reported Finley to the Oakland Diocese in 2020 for sexually inappropriate behavior that he exhibited toward me as a young man.
I told Amaral that I was someone who Finley abused, and I told him that I emailed the parish months ago and asked them to please stop their annual June 9th public birthday acknowledgement of Finley because this type of thing is very hurtful for priest abuse victims to see. Despite my email to the parish months in advance to ask for sensitivity toward myself and other abuse victims, St. Edward’s still decided to publish their intention to publicly celebrate the birthday of a priest removed for sexual misconduct.
Amaral showed no compassion for me on the phone. Instead, he told me that Finley is “still a priest” and is still in good standing with his religious order, despite his faculties being removed in the Oakland Diocese. I corrected Amaral, informing him that I’ve been in contact with Finley’s religious order, and that Finley himself requested a dispensation from his priestly vows in 2022.
This is when Amaral became irate and interrupted me. He yelled over me (despite my several pleas for him to let me finish speaking), told me that Finley has every right to have Mass intentions said for him, and said that if I didn’t like it, I could contact the diocese attorney. He then hung up on me.
I immediately called the parish back but, this time, the parish secretary didn’t answer. I pressed number “6” to be connected to Amaral’s line, but of course he was too scared to answer. I left a very NSFW voicemail for Amaral, letting him know that I think he’s a coward and an enabler. A few minutes later, I called back and left another “colorful” voicemail for good measure.
If Amaral and St. Edward parish still want to celebrate Finley on June 9, they should know that they are celebrating a man who has the following complaints on record against him with the Diocese of Oakland:
Asked a teenage boy online to describe how it feels to ejaculate *
Told me to meet him in his private room at night after he saw me drinking alcohol underage at a St. Edward’s retreat
Invited me to his private parish quarters on more than one occasion
Engaged in inappropriate physical touch, including coerced cuddling, hand-holding, massage and putting his legs on me
Described to me how his penis feels when he wears boxer shorts
After my sexual misconduct report to the Diocese of Oakland, Fr. Jeff Finley engaged in the following behavior:
Lied to Our Lady of The Rosary parishioners about his November 2020 initial suspension by the Oakland Diocese, telling them (in a letter read at Mass), that he was taking a sabbatical to “rest and reflect” after being burned out from hospital duties
Failed to tell Our Lady of The Rosary’s pastor about his suspension from the Oakland Diocese
Failed to tell his religious order, the Missionaries of The Precious Blood, about his suspension by the Oakland Diocese
Raised cash with a GoFundMe campaign for himself (even though he was a member of a religious order at the time and was not supposed to have personal funds) until I got it shut down
Publicly blamed me for his removal from ministry and firing from Washington Hospital (taking no personal responsibility for his sexual misconduct)
Asked his religious order to release him from his vows (Bloodlines newsletter, page 5) in January 2022, but still lets people refer to him as a priest
This is the type of man that Amaral is committed to defending.
It is extremely frustrating to see that Amaral continues to not only ignore the harm inflicted by Finley to myself and others, but that the St. Edward’s pastor feels justified in being openly demeaning toward a priest abuse victim. Amaral, like too many other priests and laypersons alike, seems to prefer to “shoot the messenger” rather than deal with the fact that a priest they admired was an abuser.
Perhaps Amaral doesn’t want to think about how much of Finley’s sexually inappropriate behavior toward me took place in the same living quarters that Amaral sleeps in every night.
Amaral’s rudeness toward me on the phone was completely unacceptable. I want to reiterate that Amaral did not express one word of sympathy toward me after I identified myself as a victim of Finley’s abuse. Instead, he talked over me, dismissed me, and ended the phone call without letting me speak.
This is not the type of priest who should be running a parish. St. Edward’s parishioners in Newark, CA, and the general Catholic population of the Oakland Diocese, deserve to know what kind of man he is. I’ve also filed an official complaint against Amaral with the Oakland Diocese’s vicar for clergy.
If Mr. Amaral objects to anything I’ve written here or wants to continue our phone conversation, he is free to contact me.
*Another sexual misconduct victim of Finley told me this story after I told him about my own experiences with the priest.
I am glad you filed a complaint. Let me know if you need anything signed by someone with the initials JCL after their name.
You are a good man and did the right thing.