OHIO
BishopAccountability.org
Summary of Case: Ordained in 1957 for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Lawrence “Larry” Strittmatter was a parish priest and long-time principal of Elder High School. The archdiocese began to receive allegations in at least 1979 that Strittmatter was sexually abusing his students. In 1981 he was sent to counseling and transferred for a short while to a parish on the other side of the city. In 1982 he was named pastor of Our Lady of Victory parish. He was removed from the parish in 1988 after more allegations, sent to treatment, then reassigned to St. Albert the Great in Dayton OH, which is in the northern reaches of the archdiocese.
In the Spring of 2002 a man reported to law enforcement and the archdiocese that Strittmatter molested him on three occasions in 1979 and 1980, when the man was an Elder student. Strittmatter’s accuser said that the priest invited him to join him in games of racquetball at the club, and that the abuse happened afterwards, in the shower. In June 2002 Strittmatter was suspended from ministry. Subsequently, more former Elder students came forward with similar allegations of abuse by Strittmatter. By September 2003, twenty-eight men had accused Strittmatter in lawsuits. At least one claimed the priest abused him as a fourth-grader at Our Lady of Victory. It has been estimated that Strittmatter may have had nearly 100 victims.
The archdiocese was convicted in November 2003 on five counts of misdemeanor cover-up of sexual abuse of children by its priests. Strittmatter was laicized in 2006.
Ordained: May 25, 1957
Laicized: 2006
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