Manhattan Priest Still on the Job Despite Allegations of Sexual Abuse from Two Former Altar Boys

By Aaron Showalter, Laura Dimon, and Larry McShane
New York Daily News
November 9, 2017

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan-priest-working-sex-abuse-allegations-article-1.3621874

Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Manhattan. (ANDREW SAVULICH/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

A Manhattan parish priest remains on the job despite allegations from two former altar boys that he sexually abused the pair, an attorney charged Thursday.

The Rev. Lawrence Quinn targeted the boys in two separate incidents while in a Bronx parish, Our Lady of Mercy, where he spent nearly two decades, according to lawyer Patrick Noaker.

“Protecting kids must be our first priority,” said Noaker. “It is extremely troubling that Quinn is still serving in a parish after two survivors have come forward and alerted the church with reports of his abuse.”

The first incident, with an altar boy under the age of 11, allegedly occurred between 1990-96. The second happened between 1999-2001 and involved a 12-to-14-year-old victim, said Noakar.

The attorney says complaints from both men were filed with the Archdiocese of New York — the first in late September, the second one month later — under the church’s Independent Compensation and Reconciliation Program.

The older accuser was training as an altar server when molested, the lawyer said.

The 72-year-old priest, now serving as parochial vicar at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs parish in Inwood, told the Daily News that the allegations were without merit.

“It’s news to me, let me tell you that,” Quinn told The News. “Between you and me, I don’t have any sexual impetus. Never have, since I became a priest. I put that to the side.”

Joe Zwilling, spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, said there were no previous complaints against Quinn across his 46 years in the priesthood.

While Noaker criticized Timothy Cardinal Dolan for leaving Quinn in his job, Zwilling noted that informing any investigative target before the probe is done violates ICRP protocol.

“By agreement with (prosecutors), we will not take action until after the DA has investigated the allegations and given us clearance to take action, so as not to imperil any investigation they might conduct,” he said.