Rev. Raymond A. Hyland

Assignment Record– Rev. Raymond A. Hyland

Summary of Case: Raymond Hyland was ordained for the Archdiocese of New York in 1947. He was a parish priest throughout his career, assisting in Saugerties, the Bronx, Crestwood and Middletown before becoming pastor in 1974 in Bengall, and then in Kingston in 1983. He died in 1995.

In the mid-1980s a woman told the archdiocese that Hyland sexually abused her when she was a child in the Bronx in the 1950s. The woman - an Ursuline nun - said that Hyland stepped in to "take her under his wing" after her sister was struck and killed by a car. The abuse allegedly started when the woman was 11 years-old and continued until she was 16. Hyland's accuser said two priests from the archdiocese questioned her about the allegations and asked her what she had done to "activate his interest." She asked for compensation to help with her therapy expenses, a that request wasn't granted until 2000, when the archdiocese sent a check to her order. Further, the woman said that she was made to sign a confidentiality agreement. She began to speak out in 2005 and, in 2016, she named Hyland publicly.

Born: December 31, 1919
Ordained: March 1, 1947
Died: May 20, 1995

Start	Stop	Assignments	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1947 Archdiocese of New York Archbishop was Francis Joseph Spellman (1939-1967).	1951	St. Mary's	Saugerties	NY	2/2	St. Mary's had a school with 96-102 boys and 84-99 girls.
1951	1955	St. Angela Merici's	New York (Bronx) • In the mid-1980s a nun of the Ursuline order, Sr. Claire Smith, reported to the archdiocese that Hyland had sexually abuse her when she was ages 11-16. Sr. Claire, who grew up in the Bronx, said the abuse started when Hyland "took her under his wing" after one of her sisters was struck and killed by a car.	NY	4/4	St. Angela Merici's had a school with 341-395 boys and 317-383 girls.
1955 Spellman was succeeded by Terence James Cooke (1968-1983).	1970	Annunciation	Crestwood	NY	2/2, 3/3, 2/3
1970	1974	St. Joseph's	Middletown	NY	4/5, 2/3, 2/2	St. Joseph's had a school with 335-206 students.
1974 John Joseph O'Connor replaced Cooke as New York archbishop (1984-2000).	1989	Immaculate Conception	Bangall	NY	1/1	Sr. Claire said that two priests from the archdiocese interviewed her when she came forward, and asked her what she had done to "activate his interest" in her. She requested financial compensation from the archdiocese for her therapy expenses. After years of stalling the archdiocese sent her order $14,000 in 2000, and required Sr. Claire to sign a confidentiality agreement.
1974	1989	St. Joseph's	Clinton Corners	NY		This was a mission of Immaculate Conception in Bangall.
1989	1993	St. Peter's	Kingston	NY	1/2
1993	1995					Hyland is not indexed in the 1994 or 1995 Directories, nor is he listed in the New York pages as at his previous assignment. Hyland died May 20, 1995.

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (Kenedy & Sons, 1948-1996).

• Hyland Ordination Announcement, The Kingston Daily Freeman, February 28, 1947
• New Rochelle Nun Speaks about Childhood Abuse, By Gary Stern, The Journal News [New Rochelle NY] , November 13, 2005
• Catholic Nun Abused by Priest as a Teen Says Opposing Legislation to Help Victims Seek Justice Goes Against Church Teachings, By Michael O'Keefe, New York Daily News, June 30, 2016
• Findagrave.com, accessed June 16, 2016

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Hyland's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with the allegations against him, as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegations we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on March 30, 2017.