NEW YORK
BishopAccountability.org
Summary of Case: Joseph A. Schuster was ordained for the Diocese of Buffalo in 1966. His first year in ministry he was the sole priest at St. Isadore’s in East Otto, via the diocese’s Missionary Apostolate. He then assisted in Buffalo and Niagara Falls parishes, and taught mathematics at the Diocesan Preparatory Seminary. He was also a boy scout camp chaplain. Schuster was well-known for his social justice activism and involvement with the poor and disenfranchised. In 1972 he lead the establishment of a Catholic Worker House in Niagara Falls, where he spent the remainder of his priesthood. In early 1991 Schuster announced that he was taking a leave of absence; he did not return to active ministry as a priest. He went on to marry a man and adopt three sons. He died in 2007 at age 68.
On March 30, 2018 – at 3pm on Good Friday – a man held a press conference on the steps of St. Peter’s Cathedral to announce that in 1968, at age 13, he was the victim of sexual assault by Schuster. The man said that after an event at Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Niagara Falls it had gotten too dark out to ride his bike home, so Schuster invited him to stay overnight at the rectory. The man said Schuster instructed him to sleep in his bed, then proceeded to molest him.
Schuster’s accuser had come forward to the diocese on March 12, 2018. The diocese released a list of credibly accused priests and lay employees and volunteers on March 20, but it included only those who were deceased if they had more than one known accusation against them. Schuster’s name was not included on the list.
Born: February 12, 1939
Ordained: 1966
Died: July 23, 2007
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