Rev. James F. Kuntz, s.j.-Assignment Record

Assignment Record – Rev. James F. Kuntz, s.j.

Summary of Case: James F. Kuntz was ordained a Jesuit priest of the New York Province in 1977. He spent his career as an educator in New York, New Jersey and California. During 1994-1999 he was in Abuja, Nairobi where he was the founding principal of a boarding school for children, grades 7-12. In February 2008 Kuntz was found to have child pornography on his computer. He pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in September of that year, and sentenced in February 2009 to 40 months in prison and 5 years supervised release.

Ordained: 1977

Start	Stop	Parish/Assignment	Town/Accusations	State/Country	Position	Notes
1977 Oakland bishop was John Stephen Cummins (1977-2003).	1978	Jesuit School of Theology	Berkeley	CA		Kuntz is indexed in the 1978 Directory under the New York Provincialate. He is listed in the New York archdiocesan pages as in Berkeley.
1978 San Francisco archbishop was John Raphael Quinn (1977-1995). The San Jose diocese was established Jan. 27, 1981. Its bishop was Roland Pierre DuMaine (1981-1999).	1983	Santa Clara University	Santa Clara	CA
1983 New York archbishop was Terence James Cooke (1968-1983), followed by John Joseph O'Connor (1984-2000).	1984	Regis High School	New York	NY	Academic Assistant to Headmaster.	Regis had 487 students, all male.
1984 Newark archbishop was Peter Leo Gerety (1974-1986). He was succeeded by Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1986-2000).	1988	St. Peter's Preparatory School	Jersey City	NJ	Principal	St. Peter's Prep. had 840-825 students, all male.
1988 Westminster archbishop was George Basil Hume, o.s.b. (1976-1999).	1989	Campion House College	Isleworth	Middlesex, England
1989	1994	Regis High School	New York	NY	Headmaster	Regis had 496-509 students, all male.
1994	1995	St. Ignatius Loyola Residence	New York	NY
1994 Abuja bishop was Dominic Ignatius Ekandem (1981-1992), followed by John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan (1992-).	1999	Loyola Jesuit College	Abuja	Nigeria	Founder; Principal	Kuntz is not indexed in the 1996-1999 Directories. Per a Jesuit newsletter, Kuntz went to Nigeria for five years to help set up and run this school. It was a co-ed boarding school with 600 students, grades 7-12. (In Dec. 2005 sixty of its students were killed in a plane crash.)
1999	2000	St. Ignatius Loyola Residence	New York	NY
2000 Sacramento bishop was William Keith Weigand (1993-2008).	2002	Jesuit High School	Sacramento	CA	President	Jesuit High had 1,000 students, all male.
2002	2003	Jesuit High School Community	Carmichael	CA		Kuntz is not listed in the 2003 Directory as at Jesuit High school.
2003	2004					Kuntz is not indexed in the 2004 Directory.
2004 Newark archbishop was John Joseph Myers (2001).	2008	Jesuits of St. Peter's College, Inc.	Jersey City • Kuntz was found in February 2008 to have child pornography on his computer. He pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in September 2008.	NJ	Vice President for Mission and Ministry	Kuntz is not indexed beyond the 2008 Directory.
2008						Kuntz was sentenced February 18, 2009 to 40 months in prison and 5 years of supervised release.

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1978-2008)

• New York Jesuit Remembers Students Killed in Nigerian Plane Crash, By Stephen J. Hudik, National Jesuit News February/ March 2006
• Kid Porn Plea by Priest Who Served Spc, The Jersey Journal, September 30, 2008
• St. Peter's Prep, SPC Say Child-Porn Priest Did No Wrong at Schools, By Paul Koepp, Jersey Journal, October 28, 2008
• United States of America v. James Kuntz, United States District Court, District of New Jersey, February 18, 2009

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Kuntz's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on January 16, 2019.