UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org
Summary of Case: John L. Abrams was ordained for the Diocese of Brooklyn in 1951. He was an assistant priest at several consecutive parishes before being placed in charge in 1971 of St. Gregory’s in Crown Heights for eight years, followed by three years as pastor of Sacred Heart in Bayside, Queens. In 1982 he was transferred to St. Patrick’s in the Fort Hamilton neighborhood, where he assisted until 1988. During 1988-1989 Abrams was ‘in residence’ at St. Francis de Chantal. According to the Official Catholic Directory, he was ‘Absent on Sick Leave’ 1989-1997, after which he was ‘Retired.’
At some point after the US Bishops’ Conference in 2002, several men came forward to the diocese with allegations that Abrams had sexually abused them when they were boys during the late 1970s-early 1980s, while Abrams was pastor of Sacred Heart. The diocesan review board determined in 2007 that the allegations were credible. Abrams was barred from public ministry, and the matter was to be referred to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
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