Archdiocese of New York Accused Priests

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York is the second-largest diocese in the US. It includes ministries in the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island in New York City, and the counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester.

In the past several years, survivors of child sex abuse by numerous priests assigned to duties within the archdiocese filed hundreds of lawsuits requesting compensation for their injuries and suffering. In 2019, after the New York attorney general launched an investigation into child sexual abuse by priests, the archdiocese released a list of 120 priests the church deemed credibly accused of sexually abusing minors. The archdiocese removed all priests on the list who were still working for the church from their duties.

One of the listed priests, Edward Pipala, spent seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to transporting at least 11 boys across state lines to have sex with them. It’s believed Pipala sexually abused as many as 50 boys throughout his service in the archdiocese.

The list also includes former Cardinal McCarrick, who was ordained in New York and served in numerous capacities in several dioceses until being defrocked after years of sexually abusing boys and young priests.

Although most of the abuse by priests in the archdiocese is said to have happened between 1970 and the 1990s, there have been at least two credible claims of sexual abuse by clergy in the archdiocese since 2002. Nonetheless, as in most instances of child sexual abuse, there are likely more victims out there who have yet to come forward.

One former cleric in the archdiocese, Monsignor John Paddack, is the subject of at least a dozen lawsuits concerning alleged child sexual abuse. Paddack’s accusers claim the abuse occurred during his assignments to different positions in the archdiocese throughout the 1980s. He’s accused of sexual misconduct while serving in administrative positions at Monsignor Farrell High School in Oakwood and St. Joseph By-the-Sea High School in Huguenot. In June 2021, a former student of Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx filed a lawsuit, alleging that Paddack sexually abused the student on numerous occasions, including fondling the student’s genitalia and rubbing his genitalia against the student’s legs.

The lawsuit also claims that Brother Christopher Keogan also sexually abused the victim while at the high school, including fondling the victim’s genitalia on numerous occasions. Keogan served as the school’s principal from 2002 to 2008, when he resigned after the discovery of pornography on his work computer.

Paddack resigned from his church positions in 2019 when the allegations against him came to light. The lawsuit claims that Cardinal Hayes High School and the archdiocese should have known about the abuse by both Paddack and Keogan. The victim, who was a teenager at the time of the abuse, claims he’s struggled throughout his life with severe mental health issues because of the abuse inflicted on him. Both Paddack and Keogan deny the allegations made against them.

The archdiocese’s problems with sexual abuse by priests don’t seem to be going away any time soon. In late June 2021, 28 former Boy Scouts filed a lawsuit against the archdiocese and the Boy Scouts of America. Plaintiffs to the lawsuit claim that for almost half a century, the Staten Island Council of the Boy Scouts and the Archdiocese of New York acted like “headhunters,” recruiting boys for priests and scout leaders to abuse sexually. Allegations span a period from 1949 to 1995, with the plaintiffs saying they were systematically chosen and groomed for sexual abuse, including being touched, fondled, and even sodomized.

If you or someone you love experienced sex abuse at the Archdiocese of New York, contact the lawyers at Herman Law today for a free consultation.