NEW YORK
BishopAccountability.org
Summary of Case: Donald J. Whelan was a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, ordained in 1957. He was assigned to assist in Pearl River, Bronx and Nyack parishes before being named Administrator of a Newburgh parish in 1979. He left Newburgh in 1985 to return to Nyack as lead priest. He reportedly died in 1988.
Whelan was accused in a February 2004 lawsuit of having sexually abused a boy during 1964-1965, when the boy was ages 11-12 and Whelan was assigned to St. John Vianney parish in the Bronx. According to the suit, Whelan stepped in to help the boy’s mother after she and her husband divorced, leaving her alone with seven children. The abuse, including penetration, allegedly took place in the parish rectory, in a beach cabana and during overnight trips to the Rockaways. Whelan was said to have told the boy not to tell because it would hurt his mother, and no one would believe him.
Ordained: 1957
Died: 1988
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