McGoldrick, who the complaint says often socialized with female college students (occasions that frequently involved alcohol) then allegedly offered Doe another alcoholic drink, as part of a “bourbon flight.”
McGoldrick, who the complaint says “openly flouted the requirement of priestly celibacy,” told Doe, 22 at the time, how “lonely the priesthood was” and how he “longed to be known and loved.”
The chaplain, an aspiring musician, then “insisted on singing songs he had written, describing his need for human connection beyond that which he was allowed to have as a priest,” the complaint says.
Before Doe could finish her drink, McGoldrick would “continuously” refill it, according to the complaint. Doe then vomited outside because she was drunk, it says.
Around midnight, McGodrick then poured her another glass of bourbon and suggested they watch a movie. They sat on opposite sides of the couch. The complaint says that Doe wanted to leave and felt “extremely uncomfortable” but didn’t know what to do.
The complaint says that McGoldrick began touching Doe’s feet and legs saying that he “had a thing for feet.” He then began touching her breasts under her shirt, the complaint says. Then he laid on top of her and began kissing her neck, according to the complaint.
“Over the next few hours, Plaintiff lost consciousness and cannot recall what may have happened while unconscious.” The sexual assault “continued and escalated,” the complaint says.
According to her first-person account of the assault published in the Catholic Herald in July 2020, Doe — identified by the pseudonym Susanna — said “Every time I woke up I hoped I was in a nightmare and the chaplain of my college wasn’t on top of me.”
According to the complaint, Doe left around 4 a.m. “after regaining consciousness.” She experienced suicidal urges and felt guilty, feelings which lasted for years, the complaint says.
The following day, McGoldrick invited Doe to the rectory and apologized, citing Doe’s attractiveness as the explanation for his actions, the complaint says. He said his life was “just so hard” and asked her not to tell anyone about what happened, the complaint says.
Doe told him that she “wanted no part in what had happened” and added that it can never happen again, the complaint says. She said that she did not want to be alone with him nor have physical contact with him ever, the complaint says.
(Story continues below)
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Doe tried to avoid McGoldrick but saw him again when he asked her to retrieve a liquor bottle she left at the rectory, the complaint says. For fear of McGoldrick and bringing herself more harm, she went. McGoldrick offered her a sweatshirt after noticing that she had goosebumps.
They had more glasses of bourbon and McGoldrick discussed BDSM, or bondage, dominance, sadism, and masochism, the complaint says.
She tried to leave, but McGoldrick “put his hands on Plaintiff’s hips, removed the sweatshirt he had her wear, hugged her, and rubbed his groin against her,” the complaint says.
“Terrified, Plaintiff left quickly,” the complaint says.
Later that year McGoldrick was transferred to a neighboring grade school and a high school on the Aquinas College’s campus, also run by the sisters.
In 2019, Doe reported the abuse to both the Diocese of Nashville and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the complaint says. The report was the second time Doe had made a complaint to the Diocese of Nashville about the incident, according to the Tennessee Register, the Diocese of Nashville’s newspaper. Doe had reported the incident earlier in 2019 without mentioning “touching of a sexual nature,” according to the paper.