Rev. Albert E. Schetter

Assignment Record– Rev. Albert E. Schetter

Summary of Case: Albert E. Schetter was a priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, ordained in 1955. He assisted at parishes in Hamilton, Cincinnati, Springfield and Sidney before being named lead priest of a Middletown parish. He next held a long-time pastorship in Chickasaw. Schetter was also a high school teacher. He retired in 1990 and died May 5, 2002.

In 1992 a man told the archdiocese that when he was a student in the early 1960s at Annunciation parish school in Cincinnati's Clifton neighborhood, Schetter sexually abused him. The archdiocese offered the man counseling, which he declined. Archdiocesan officials also reviewed Schetter's personnel file and found that in the early 1960s there had been complaints of the priest's "odd behavior" with children, for which he was sent on a spiritual retreat. Officials in 1992 told Schetter to stay away from children.

In 2003 Schetter's accuser and another man alleging sexual abuse by the priest as a boy in the early 1960s sued, claiming the archdiocese knew of but did nothing about Schetter's abuse of children.

Born: 1922
Ordained: May 28, 1955
Retired: 1990
Died: May 5, 2002

Start	Stop	Assignments	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1955		St. Edward's	Cincinnati (West End)	OH		Schetter served here briefly, per his obituary.
1955 Archdiocese of Cincinnati Archbishop was Karl Joseph Alter (1950-1969).	1960	St. Peter in Chains	Hamilton	OH	3/3	St. Peter in Chains had a school with 354-258 boys and 241-304 girls.
1960	1964	Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary	Cincinnati (Clifton) • In a 2003 lawsuit Schetter was accused of sexually abusing two boys between 1960-1963, while he was assigned to Annunciation. One of the plaintiffs had gone to the archdiocese with his allegations in 1992.	OH	3/3	Annunciation had a school with 226-195 boys and 216-156 girls. A review of Schetter's personnel file in 1992 by the archdiocese showed that Schetter was sent to a spiritual retreat in the early 1960s due to complaints of his "odd behavior" with children. The 2003 lawsuit claimed the archdiocese knew of Schetter's molestation of children, but kept it quiet.
1963	1965	Mother of Mercy High School	Cincinnati (Westwood)		faculty member
1964	1965	Our Lady of Lourdes	Cincinnati (Westwood)	OH	2/4	Our Lady of Lourdes had a school with 462 boys and 468 girls.
1965		Holy Family	Dayton	OH	associate pastor
1965 Alter was succeeded as Cincinnati archbishop by Paul Francis Leibold (1969-1972).	1970	St. Teresa, Little Flower of Jesus	Springfield	OH	3/3	St. Teresa's had a school with 242-228 boys and 229-191 girls.

1965	1970	Springfield Catholic High School	Springfield	OH	part-time teacher
1970	1972	Holy Angels	Sidney	OH	2/3 teacher at parish school	Holy Angels had a grade school with 200-212 boys and 234-212 boys, and a high school with 100 boys and 108 girls. (The High School merged with St. Mary's in1970 to form Lehman Catholic High School.)
1972 Joseph Louis Bernardin replaced Leibold (1972-1982).	1979	Holy Trinity	Middletown	OH	2/2 (Administrator), 1/2, 1/1	Holy Trinity had a school with 65 boys and 67 girls. In 1972 it merged with area schools to form St. John XXIII.
1979 Daniel Edward Pilarczyk succeeded Bernardin (1982-2009).	1990	Most Precious Blood	Chickasaw	OH	1/1
1990	1993	Retired	Chickasaw	OH		Address given is 8 Walnut St., Chickasaw OH The archdiocese in 2003 said it offered counseling in 1992 to Schetter's alleged victim who had come forward. The man declined. The archdiocese also told Schetter at the time to stay away from children.
1993	1997	Retired	St. Mary's	OH		Schetter resided at Otterbein-St. Mary's Retirement Community.
1997	2002	Retired	St. Mary's	OH		Address given is 1124 Circle Dr., St. Mary's OH Schetter died May 5, 2002.

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, 1956-2003).

• Rev. Albert Schetter, Middletown Journal, May 7, 2002
• Lawsuit Says Archdiocese Covered up Sex Abuse by Priest, Associated Press, November 5, 2003
• Sex Abuse Concealed, Suit Claims, By Dan Horn, Cincinnati Enquirer, November 6, 2003

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 Schetter's 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 February 2, 2017.