ALBANY (NY)
New York Daily News
August 19, 2023
By Muri Assunção
Howard Hubbard, a retired Catholic bishop who admitted to covering up sexual abuse allegations in upstate New York, died Saturday at a hospital in Albany. He was 84.
Hubbard passed away after suffering a massive stroke, according to Mark Behan, a longtime friend and advisor.
It’s unclear when exactly Hubbard was admitted to the hospital, but on Friday, Albany Bishop Edward Scharfenberger asked for prayers for the former bishop.
“I received news that he is currently hospitalized at the Albany Medical Center,” Scharfenberger said in a statement. “Our chaplains have visited him and anointed him.”
Hubbard, who led the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany from 1977 to 2014, was known as a champion of social justice. However, his reputation was tarnished amid a growing number of allegations of sexual abuse within his diocese. He retired in 2014.
While Hubbard denied any sexual accusations directly against him, in 2021 he acknowledged helping to cover up decades of sexual abuse by predator priests, and admitted to not calling the police on accused clergy.
Last year, Hubbard asked Pope Francis to remove him from the priesthood and return him to lay state, since he could no longer serve as a priest, according to a church policy that bars accused clergy from ministry.
If his request was accepted, he would no longer be required to stay celibate. However, in March he said the Vatican declined his request.
Earlier this month, the 84-year-old announced he had recently married a woman.
“I have fallen in love with a wonderful woman who has helped and cared for me and who believes in me,” he said at the time.
His union, while legally recognized, was not considered valid by the church.
“He remains a retired Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church and therefore cannot enter into marriage,” Scharfenberger said in a letter to the diocese on Aug. 1, while commenting on the “unexpected news.”
On Saturday, Scharfenberger released a statement confirming Hubbard’s death.
“The life of a priest is never about himself but for those whom he serves, to whom he is sent,” the statement reads in part. “As all priests are human, broken men, in need of redemption themselves from their own sins, we … pray for those who were in any way hurt or wounded by any priest they may have encountered.”
With News Wire Services