NEW YORK
Troy Record
By: Robert Cristo, The Record 03/04/2005
An 81-year-old Amsterdam woman accused a deceased Schenectady priest of violently raping her and past leaders of the Albany Diocese of forcing her to put the baby they had together up for adoption more than 60 years ago.
In the early 1940s, Lorraine Szczepanik was living in Schenectady where she says Rev. Joseph N. Chmielewski, who assisted at parishes in Watervliet, Troy, Colonie, Amsterdam and Schenectady, invited her to the rectory to give her a Mass card.
In a letter through her attorney John Aretakis, Szczepanik recounted how the encounter started off innocently with them having a sandwich and soda together. However, things quickly degenerated as the priest allegedly starting drinking too much wine and began acting wild.
She then goes on to recount how Chmielewski allegedly raped her while he was in a drunken rage.
"This priest raped her and inflicted pain on her that lasted for a lifetime, and now she's exposing him," said Aretakis, who represents numerous alleged victims of clergy sex abuse. "She still cries like it happened yesterday. ... She lived a shattered life."