Rev. Henry Mills – Assignment History

Summary of Case: Henry Mills was ordained for the Archdiocese of New York in 1988. He was an assistant priest at Christ the King parish in the Bronx for eight years, followed by one year in the same role at St. Joseph of the Holy Family in Harlem.

Mills was removed from St. Joseph's in 1997 after he was accused in a lawsuit of raping a 17-year-old male parishioner. The abuse was said to have begun in 1992 at Christ the King, when the youth went to Mills for counseling, and to have continued over several years. Mills' accuser claimed that the priest plied him with alcohol, threatened to say that the boy tried to seduce him if he told, and said that "nobody would ever believe" him. The lawsuit also accused the archdiocese of a cover-up and of breaking a promise to provide psychological help. The archdiocese denied the allegations and said "if anything occurred, it was consensual sex." Mills countersued his accuser in 1998.

After his removal Mills was sent to a treatment facility in upstate New York, after which he was sent reside at St. Elizabeth parish rectory in Washington Heights. In 2002, despite his "Absent on Leave" status, Mills was discovered by a news reporter to have been actively ministering at the parish and its school. At the time, neither of the lawsuits had been resolved.

Mills' whereabouts and status in April 2017 are unclear.

Ordained: 1988

1988

Archdiocese of New York

Archbishop was John Joseph O'Connor (1984-2000).

New York (Bronx)

• Mills was accused in a 1997 lawsuit of raping a 17-year-old boy, who was a St. Joseph's parishioner, beginning in May 1992. His accuser said Mills gave him alcohol and raped him during a counseling session at Christ the King and at Mills' next assignment, St. Joseph of the Holy Family in Harlem.

Christ the King had a school with 550 students.

New York (Harlem)

• Mills was accused of raping a 17-year-old boy at St. Joseph's and at his previous assignment, Christ the King in the Bronx. His accuser said that, if he told, Mills threatened to say the boy tried to seduce him, and said "nobody would ever believe you."

St. Joseph's had a school with 250 students, and a CCD program with 170 students.

Mills was removed from active ministry and sent 'upstate' for treatment.

1998

O'Connor was succeeded as New York archbishop by Edward Michael Egan (2000-2009).

Mills' accuser's lawsuit against him also accused the archdiocese of covering up the abuse and rescinding its promise to provide psychological help. The archdiocese denied the claims but said that "if anything occurred, it was consensual sex."

Mills counter-sued his accuser in 1998 for slander.

4/4

In residence

St. Elizabeth's had a school with 525 students, and a CCD program with 428 students.

Despite being on leave, Mills was allowed to celebrate mass and to teach on occasion at St. Elizabeth's school, as discovered in 2002 by a news reporter.

Mills is not indexed beyond the 2002 Directory.

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.

Source: Official Catholic Directory (Kenedy & Sons, 1989-2002).

• 110M Suit Charges Sex Abuse by Priest, By Salvatore Arena and Owen Moritz, New York Daily News, July 3, 1998
• Collared - Post Finds 'Missing' Sex Scandal Priest Back in the Classroom and on the Altar, By Douglas Montero, New York Post, March 19, 2002
• Abuse Allegation Offers a View of Issues in Scandal, By Dean E. Murphy, The New York Times, March 20, 2002
• He Handles the Scandals, By Heidi Evans, Daily News, June 16, 2002


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 Mills' career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with the allegations against him, as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegations 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 April 21, 2017.