NEW YORK
Patch
By ALFRED BRANCH (Patch Staff)
December 18, 2015
Monsignor John O’Keefe, former head of Stepinac High School and the priest at St. Margaret of Antioch Church in Pearl River, has been accused of sex abuse of a minor — 30 years ago.
Timothy Cardinal Dolan wrote the parishioners a letter Wednesday describing the charges and explaining the process.
He said the archdiocese received an allegation that on two occasions more than 30 years ago, O’Keefe had abused a minor. That allegation was shared with the Rockland and Bronx county district attorneys and forwarded to the district attorney in Virginia, where one of the incidents is alleged to have taken place. Their determination was that the allegations were credible, and so the archdiocese has put its policy into effect.
O’Keefe, 70, may not function as a priest until the matter is resolved; the whole matter is being reviewed by professionals and the lay advisory board; and he is in a supervised setting undergoing evaluation and risk assessment, the cardinal said.
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