Rev. Francis E. Luddy-Assignment

Assignment Record– Rev. Francis E. Luddy

Summary of Case: Francis Luddy was ordained for the Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania, diocese in 1967. He assisted in Altoona and Johnstown parishes before being named pastor of a Windber parish in 1980. He was removed from the parish in 1987 when accused in a lawsuit of having sexually abused a mentally retarded boy in the late 1970s-early 1980s; the boy was his godson. Luddy denied the abuse, but admitted to abusing five other boys. He was sent to Servants of the Paraclete in New Mexico for treatment. Per the Pennsylvania Attorney General's March 1, 2016 Grand Jury Report, throughout his career "Luddy molested, groped, masturbated, sodomized and performed oral sex on at least 10 children between the ages of 10 and 17." The report found that Bishops Hogan and Adamec knew of Luddy's abuse of children yet, did not hold him accountable. It also found "concerning" the fact that law enforcement did not act in the Luddy case, despite "the high profile exposer of an enabled child predator." Luddy is known in March 2016 to be living in New Mexico , and in poor health.

Ordained: 1967

Start	Stop	Assignment	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1967 Bishop of Altoona-Johnstown was James John Hogan (1966-1986).	1969	St. Mark's	Altoona • Plaintiff's attorney in 1994 civil trial stated that Luddy was sexually abusing children as early as as 1968. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [Pennsylvania] February 3, 1994)	PA	3/3, 2/2 Pastor was Rev. Louis J. Mulvehill. Second priest 1967-1968 was Charles D. Rager.	St. Mark's had a school with 302-294 students, and a Relgious Education program with 200-194 students.
1967	1969	Valley View Home for the Aged	Altoona	PA
1969	1970	St. John Gualbert's Co-Cathedral	Johnstown	PA	3/4 Priests were Rev. Edward J. Davis, Pastor Emeritus; Rev. Francis E. Luddy; Rev. Leonard T. Inman.	St. John's had a school with 206 students, and a Vacation School with 216 students.
1970	1972	St. Patrick's	Johnstown	PA	3/3 Luddy is listed last after Msgr. Thomas E. Madden and Rev. William A. Rosensteel	St. Patrick's had a school with 264-206 students. Rosensteel was accused in 2007 of having sexually abused an 11-year- old St. Patrick's altar boy in 1971-1972. The priest committed suicide in June 2007. (Altoona Mirror [Pennsylvania] June 26, 2007)
1972	1975	Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament	Altoona	PA	4/4 Priests were Msgr. I.J. Deny, Ph.D., Pastor Emeritus; Msgr. Thomas E. Madden, Ph.D., Pastor; Rev. Leonard T. Inma; Francis E. Luddy.	The Cathedral had a school with 217-200 students.
1975	1980	St. Therese of the Child Jesus	Altoona • Accused in a 1987 lawsuit of having sexually abused a mentally retarded boy in the late 1970s-early 1980s. (United Press International October 25, 1990) The boy was Luddy's godson. Luddy admitted to abusing 5 other boys, but denied abusing this boy. The diocese appealed three times. After more than ten years, the state Supreme Court ordered the diocese to pay 1.7 million dollars in damages to the plaintiff in 2006. (Associated Press, carried in Beaver County Times [Pittsburgh PA] March 24, 2006) • A former St. Therese altar boy accused Luddy of sexually abusing him as a child in a 2003 lawsuit. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [Pennsylvania] February 7, 2003)	PA	2/2 Pastor was Msgr. Roy F. Kline.	Parish had a school with 214-260 students.
1980	1987	St. Mary's	Windber • Accused in a 1988 lawsuit of sexually abusing a boy while he was pastor of St. Mary's. The boy was a student at St. Therese's elementary school, and the brother of the plaintiff in the lawsuit filed in the 1987 lawsuit. The abuse is said to have begun when the boy was 9 or 10 years-old, and to have ended when he was 16. (United Press International October 27, 1988)	PA	1/1
1987 Hogan was replaced as bishop by Joseph Victor Adamec (1987-).	1989	Absent on Sick Leave				Luddy does not appear in the Directories after 1989. Per news reports, Luddy was sent to treatment in Jemez Springs, New Mexico (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [Pennsylvania] February 5, 1994), where the Servants of the Paraclete operated a facility for clergy sex offenders (Palm Beach Post June 28, 1998).
1989			• Plaintiff's attorney in 1994 civil trial alleged that Luddy had sexually abused ten other boys. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [Pennsylvania] February 3, 1994) • Another accusation against Luddy surfaced in a 2003 lawsuit. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [Pennsylvania] February 7, 2003)			"Forced out of the priesthood" in 1999. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania) February 7, 2003)
	2016					The PA Attorney General's March 1, 2016 Grand Jury Report states Luddy "molested, groped, mastubated, sodomized and performed oral sex on at least 10 children between the ages of 10 and 17" throughout his priesthood. It states further, "church leadership chose to wrap themselves in lawyers and litigation rather than hold Francis Luddy accountable." It also found "concerning" law enforcement's lack of response to this high profile case. (PA Office of the Attorney General, March 1, 2016) In March 2016 Luddy is living in NM, reportedly in poor health.

Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: Kenedy & Sons, 1968-1992).

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.

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 Luddy's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation 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 history was last updated March 23, 2016.