Diocese of Albany Accused Priests

The wave of sex abuse allegations that have come out against the Roman Catholic Church over the recent years empowers many other victims to speak up and come forward about the injustices they survived. In New York, the Diocese of Albany saw several clergy members accused of child sex abuse. After the 2019 Child Victims Act extended the statute of limitations and gave survivors of child sex abuse one year to take action, those individuals finally given back their voices named 83 members of the Diocese of Albany and shared their harrowing stories of abuse.

Due to the pandemic, lawmakers prolonged the window to take action to August 14, 2021. This deadline is for anyone who survived child sex abuse by a church member to come forward in New York, no matter their age or how much time transpired since the abuse happened. New York legislators passed the Child Victims Act, recognizing that many victims don’t come forward about their traumatizing childhood experiences until later in life when they’ve had some time to process what happened to them.

A year ago, the Diocese of Albany faced 52 lawsuits, alleging sex abuse against children by members of its clergy as far back as 63 years. Many more lawsuits at that time were in the process of being prepared in response to the Child Victims Act of 2019, with the Albany Diocese facing more than 100 lawsuits total.

In September of last year, a child survivor filed a lawsuit against Priest Daniel J. Maher and Priest Donald Starks (now deceased). The lawsuit alleges the abuse occurred from 1966 to 1968 when the then altar boy was 11 to 13 years old. The abuse started with the two men inappropriately touching the victim and later progressed to forcing the boy to perform oral sex with them. The alleged abuse occurred in the rectory of St. Francis de Sales Church, located in Colonie.

From 2003 to 2007, multiple people accused Maher of child sex abuse, but the diocese dismissed the allegations. Instead, they allowed Maher to remain in his role as a priest. Another lawsuit (also filed in September of last year) alleged abuse by a priest named Timothy Mangan during the 1980s.

Earlier this year in March, a victim filed a lawsuit against Howard Hubbard alleging that he sexually abused him while he was a church member. Hubbard is the former bishop of the Diocese of Albany. This lawsuit was the seventh filed against Hubbard. According to the lawsuit, in 1977, Hubbard molested the victim when he was an 11-year-old boy after approaching him at a carnival hosted by the St. Edward the Confessor Church in Clifton Park. Unfortunately, this abuse happened to many children due to the Church enabling it by covering it up and failing to report abusers.

Half of the dioceses of New York filed for bankruptcy due to child sex abuse settlements, but the Diocese of Albany managed to stave off bankruptcy for the time being.

According to the Diocese of Albany’s Protecting Children webpage, “The Diocese of Albany urges all victims to report any instance of sexual abuse against a minor by a member of the clergy, its employees, or volunteers, to the local police or the office of the appropriate District Attorney.” The Protecting Children page has a link to a List of Offenders. Also linked is the How to Report Sexual Abuse page that lists the ReportBishopAbuse.org website and the national hotline number: (800) 276-1562.

Regardless of how many years ago the incident may have occurred, please contact Herman Law for a free consultation if you or someone you know was a child sex abuse victim of the Diocese of Albany.