NEW YORK/OHIO
BishopAccountability.org
Summary of Case: Prior to his priesthood Christopher Pliaplis was a religious order brother in Steubenville, Ohio; he left that ministry for three years to become a registered nurse. In 1987 Pliaplis was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Steubenville, going on to assist at parishes in Mingo Junction, Cambridge and Baldwin, Ohio. He transferred in 1991 to the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, reportedly to be near his ill mother. He assisted for several years at a Baldwin parish, followed by four years in Ronkonkoma; he is noted in the Official Catholic Directory during that parish assignment to have been ‘Absent on Leave.’ He then moved to a church in the Brooklyn diocese, followed by a transfer to the Archdiocese of New York, where was an assistant parish priest in Nanuet, Carmel and then Staten Island.
In 2006 a male high school student accused Pliauplis of grabbing his genitals at St. Patrick’s on Staten Island. The student was teaching religious education at the parish and Pliauplis was the program’s director. The incident allegedly occurred January 18, when the priest and youth passed each other in the school hallway. The boy and his family complained to the archdiocese and filed a report with the district attorney; there were no criminal charges. Pliauplis denied the allegations. He was suspended from active ministry in March 2006 and, per the Archdiocesan Review Board’s recommendation, Pliauplis was permanently removed from ministry in June 2006.
Pliauplis filed an appeal to the Vatican; he was successful. In July 2008 he was allowed to return to ministry, and was assigned to New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He remained at the cathedral as an assistant until 2011, followed by an unexplained gap of one year. His status since 2012 has been ‘On Leave of Absence.’
Ordained: 1987
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