Edmond A. Parrakow—Assignment Record

Rev. Edmond A. Parrakow—Assignment Record

Summary of Case: Accused in a 2/26/04 suit of abusing 2 brothers in the early 1970s. One alleges that the abuse began when he was 10 years old, that Parrakow used alcohol and porn to groom him, and that the abuse included oral rape. Suit accused Parrakow of transporting a 3rd boy to PA in 1975 and sexually abusing him there. After working as a parish priest and teacher 1968-86 in the New York archdiocese, Parrakow was incardinated in the Greensburg PA diocese as a parish priest 1986-88, and then went on sick leave back in New York. The archdiocese located him at Green Haven Correctional Facility in 1993.

Ordained: 1968
Incardinated: Archdiocese of New York 1968-86; Diocese of Greensburg 1986-88; Archdiocese of New York 1988-94.


Rev. Edmond A. Parrakow in the mid-1970s.		Parrakow and Carlos Perez in the mid-1970s at St. Martin of Tours church in the Bronx.		Carlos Perez participates in a dialogue during SNAP Latino's first national conference on April 2, 2005 at the American Legion Hall in Totowa NJ. See article. Photo by Ryung Lee / Herald News.

Start	Stop	Parish	Town	State	Position	Notes
1968 Cardinal archbishop was Terence J. Cooke 1968-83	1969	Assumption	Tuckahoe	NY	2/2. Priests were Msgr. Charles Rosselli and Rev. Parrakow.	Parish school had 130 boys, 157 girls.
1969	1973	St. Peter's	Yonkers • Accused in 2004 of abusing 2 brothers at St. Peter's; abuse of one brother, age 10-13, included oral rape and occurred on trips and in the sacristy. Alcohol and porn allegedly used in grooming the boys. See complaint.	NY	3/4, then 2/3, then 3/4. Priests were Msgr. Cornelius M. O'Brien, and Revs. Robert V. Lott, Parrakow, and Anthony Sagrista SJ. In 1971 Lott left. In 1972, O'Brien was replaced by Rev. Benedict Kuolt as pastor. In the same year, Rev. Paul J. LeBlanc became #2.	In 1969-70 parish school had 414 boys, 322 girls.
1973 Cardinal archbishop was John J. O'Connor 1984-2000	1985	St. Martin of Tours	Bronx • Accused in 2004 of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy during a 1975 trip to PA. See complaint.	NY	4/4, 3/3, 4/4, 3/3, 4/4, 3/3, 4/4, in residence throughout. Priests were Revs. Francis X. Reilly, Marcos Mendizabal, Ferdinand Kayavil, with Parrakow in residence. In 1974, Mendizabal and Kayavil were replaced by Revs. John K. Graham and Juan Pena (of the Dominican Republic). In 1975, Pena was replaced by Rev. Francisco J. Anduaga (of Spain). In 1977, Rev. John Plo replaced Reilly as pastor and Anduaga left. In 1978, Rev. Patrick M. Higgins came as new #3, with Parrakow still in residence. In 1980, Graham left. In 1981, Rev. James M. Bona came as new #2. In 1983 Higgins left. In 1984, Bona left and Revs. J. Duenas (of Colombia) and M. Rojas (of Peru) came as #2 and #3, with Parrakow still #4 in residence.	In 1973-74, parish school had 587 pupils. In 1984-85, it had 380. Priests also attended the chapel of the Dominican sisters who worked at the school. In 1979, the archdiocese awarded Parrakow its Bronze Pelican award "to recognize adult service to the Catholic youth through Scouting." See list of awards.
1970s		Aquinas High School (for girls)	Bronx	NY	Teacher	Not listed in the Directory, but Parrakow reportedly taught at Aquinas HS in the mid-1970s.
1985	1986					Not indexed in 1986 Directory.
1986 Bishops were William G. Connare 1960-87 Anthony G. Bosco 1987-2004	1988	St. Pius X	Mt. Pleasant	PA	2/2, then 1/1, then 2/2. Priests were Revs. Henry J. Marcinek and Parrakow. When Marcinek died 11/18/87, Parrakow became pastor and sole priest. Then Rev. Henry P. Dinicco came in 1988.	The 1987 Directory lists the Greensburg see as vacant. Bishop Connare retired 1/20/87; Bosco was appointed 4/2/87. Parrakow was likely incardinated by Connare sometime in 1986. Connare's fellow-bishop in PA, John O'Connor, had become archbishop of New York in 1984.
1988 1992 Cardinal archbishop was John J. O'Connor 1984-2000	1994 1993	Absent on Sick Leave Green Haven Correctional Facility In the 1993 Directory only, a phone number for Parrakow is added: 914-221-2711, which was the phone number of NY State's maximum-security Green Haven Correctional Facility. See CDCSOM Directory 2005, p. 21 (large 1.4M file); and NY DOCS website with updated area code. The 1993 Directory locates Parrakow at the Green Haven facility, which indicates that he was there in late 1992. It is not possible to determine when he arrived and when he left.	Stormville	NY	The chaplain at Greenhaven Correctional Facility in 1988-94 was Rev. Edward Donovan, with Rev. Gamini Fernando added 1993-94. It does not appear that Parrakow was assigned to the prison.	The index of the 1989 Directory double-lists Parrakow: Parrakow, Edmond A. (NY) Absent on Sick leave. Parrakow, Edmond A. '68 (GBG) Mt. Pleasant, PA St. Pius X Church. Parrakow is so listed in both the NY and GBG pages. Note that NY did not include his ordination year in its index entry. Apparently in late 1988 or early 1989, Parrakow was sent back to NY and put on sick leave. In subsequent Directories, he is listed as a NY priest, "Absent on Sick leave."
1994	2006					Not indexed in 1995-2006 Directory.

Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: Kenedy & Sons, 1969-2006). Complaint, New York Supreme Court (February 26, 2004). Photographs of Parrakow and Perez courtesy of Carlos Perez.

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 Parrakow's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with the allegations against him as described in the legal complaint. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegations we report. We remind our readers that in the U.S. judicial system, a person is considered innocent until proven guilty.

A Note on Nomenclature: We use the term "assignment record," instead of the more common "service record," because "service" is not an appropriate word for the activities of an abusive priest. Dioceses are often less than forthcoming about the activities of retired priests, but when we can determine those activities, we list them in these assignment records, particularly if they involve ministry. Retired priests remain under obedience to their bishop, and even the activities of laicized priests should be a concern to the diocese.

This assignment record was last updated on 12/20/07.