Original article
The Archdiocese of Boston has barred a Brazilian priest from performing public ministry following allegations against him of “adult sexual misconduct,’’ church officials said yesterday in a statement.
The Rev. Pedro J. Damázio had been serving as parochial vicar of St. Anthony of Padua in Cambridge and has also served the immigrant Brazilian community throughout the Archdiocese of Boston for more than 10 years, said Kelly Lynch, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese. Lynch said she could not give any details about the timing, nature, or source of the allegations against Damázio. Law enforcement officials are investigating the matter and the archdiocese has also begun an internal investigation, Lynch said.
The archdiocese said it has informed Damázio’s home diocese in Santa Catarina, Brazil, of the allegations. “The decision to suspend Father Damázio’s faculties represents the archdiocese’s commitment to the safety of all parties and does not represent a determination of Father Damázio’s guilt or innocence as it pertains to these allegations,’’ the statement said.
O Globo, a major newspaper in Brazil, reported that Damázio received a letter dated July 10 from the archdiocese informing him that he had been accused of improper behavior. The paper also reported that he returned to Brazil on July 12, because he wanted to be the first to give the news to his mother.
In an e-mail to a supporter dated July 16, Damázio defended his long record as a priest who worked to draw thousands of Brazilian immigrants into the archdiocese. (The e-mail, obtained by the Globe, was written in Portuguese and its contents have been translated.) “I ask for forgiveness from friends and people who have been or could be affected by this situation,’’ Damázio wrote. “At the same time, I am not going to dismiss the 13 years of work that I did with so much affection with all the immigrants, adults, youths, old people, and children in the Archdiocese of Boston.’’
He wrote that he arrived in Boston in March 1997 and struggled to adapt to life here, even as he helped other immigrants find work, housing, and information. He said he has been a priest for 25 years, served the Massachusetts area for nearly 13 years, and had never been censured in all that time. While he did not rebut the allegations in the e-mail, he wrote that he thought the accusations, which surfaced as he returned from a vacation to visit his sick 86-year old mother in Brazil, were strange, given his record.
Members of the Brazilian community interviewed yesterday said they were surprised and saddened to hear about the allegations.
“I know he was respected in the community,’’ said Heloisa M. Galvão, president of the Allston-based Brazilian Women’s Group, who remembered first meeting Damázio more than 10 years ago. Galvão, a Catholic who did not attend Damázio’s church, said she would call him for information about the Brazilian diaspora.
Francisco Carvalho of Tyngsborough, a community activist in Lowell who had not heard about the allegations until told about them by a reporter, said he had held Damázio in high regard. Carvalho, who conferred with the priest on fund-raisers and social events for the community, said: “It is shocking. It causes a lot of hurt within the community, and it takes time to heal, especially if it’s someone who is trusted,’’ he said. “Until proven differently, I still think he is a nice guy.’’
Ilma Paixao, a Brazilian fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who knew Damázio well, said the priest often made jokes but tended not to “watch his words very carefully.’’
“He would use his words freely. A lot of times those words can get misunderstood,’’ she said.
“I would like to know the facts before we make a lot of judgments,’’ she said. 
By Nandini Jayakrishna and Maria Sacchetti, Globe Correspondent Globe Staff
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