NEW JERSEY
BishopAccountability.org
Summary of Case: A Newark parish priest, Nickas was known as a progressive who served the poor and homeless. He founded several shelters, a childrens’ center, a day care and an alternative high school. In the 2000s two men came forward separately with accusations that Nickas sexually abused them as young boys in the 1970s. One of the men said he was abused for two years, beginning when he was an 8 year-old altar boy, and that Nickas plied him with altar wine and threatened to harm his family if he told. The other accuser said his abuse occurred while he lived at one of Nickas’ homeless shelters, and included incidents in a car while Nickas cruised the streets in search of young male prostitutes. The Archdiocesan Review Board deemed the accusations to be not credible, yet the archdiocese settled with one of the accusers in May 2013.
Ordained: 1966
Incardinated: Newark archdiocese
Retired: 2005
Died: Oct. 9, 2008
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.