NEW YORK
BishopAccountability.org
Summary of Case: Michael D. O’Herlihy was a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, ordained in 1961. Early in his career he assisted at parishes in Livingston Manor, New Brighton, and the Bronx. For most of his career he was a teacher, 1970-1980 at Cardinal Hayes High School and then at Cardinal Spellman High School 1980-1992.
O’Herlihy was placed on an unexplained leave of absence in 1992. In 1993 he was laicized. His name was included in 2002 on a list of New York archdiocesan priests with complaints of child sexual against them. The archdiocese gave the list to the District Attorney; no charges were filed.
In a 2004 lawsuit O’Herlihy was accused of having sexually abused a Cardinal Hayes’ student in 1980. According to the lawsuit, O’Herlihy told the student he had heard that he was being sexually abused by a Catholic youth group leader. When the boy acknowledged the rumor to be true, O’Herlihy allegedly went on to also sexually abuse him, plying the boy with alcohol and pornography. The suit claimed that other Cardinal Hayes students were abused as well.
O’Herlihy was found in 2009 to be teaching at Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day High School.
Ordained: 1961
Laicized: 1993
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.