Bishop Howard J. Hubbard
Ordained: 1963
Elevated: 1977
Assigned as follows:
- 1963-1965: Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Albany, NY)
- 1965-1966: Catholic University (Albany, NY)
- 1966-1977: St. John's (Albany, NY)
- 1967-1977: Catholic Interracial Council (Albany, NY)
- 1969-1977: Commission for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (Albany, NY)
- 1973-1977: Priests Personnel Board (Albany, NY)
- 1973-1974: Urban Apostolate (Albany, NY)
- 1974-1977: Parish Realignment Committee (Albany, NY)
- 1974-1977: Pastoral Planning (Albany, NY)
- 1977-2014: Diocese of Albany (Albany, NY)
Summary of Abuse Allegations Against Bishop Howard J. Hubbard:
According to media reports, in 2004, accusations surfaced that Bishop Howard J. Hubbard had been involved with male prostitutes, both minors and adults, and that he was known to have been sexually involved with other young men, including priests of the Diocese of Albany. He was also accused of knowingly protecting pedophile priests. In February 2004, a man held a press conference to report that his brother wrote in a 1978 suicide note that he had had a sexual relationship with a bishop named Howard. The brother set himself on fire in his parents' Albany home and died at age 24.
Another man, in February 2004, said that Hubbard, in the 1970s, paid him for sex twice in Washington Park, a gay cruising spot for anonymous sex when the man was a teenage runaway. Bishop Hubbard denied the charges, stating that he had never broken his vow of celibacy.
The Diocese of Albany hired a former federal prosecutor in 2004 to investigate the claims against him. She detailed the investigation in a June 2004 report and determined that there was "no credible evidence" against him. The investigator did not have access to the man claiming to have been paid for sex as a teen by Hubbard.
In 2020, Hubbard was named in his fifth lawsuit alleging that he sexually abused a ten-year-old boy in 1975. The lawsuit claims the boy became ill during a church-sponsored bus trip to West Point, and Hubbard, who was on the trip, brought him back to the empty bus and sexually molested him. The complaint alleges Hubbard also sexually abused the boy in 1974 and 1976 at his family's church, then-St. James on Delaware Avenue in Albany. The church is now named St. Francis of Assisi.
In March 2021, the former bishop was named in his seventh lawsuit filed under New York's Child Victims Act. The suit claims that Hubbard sexually abused an 11-year-old child decades ago, in 1977. The victim alleges that Hubbard approached him at a church carnival, told the boy to accompany him to the rectory, and molested him there.
He retired in February 2014. At the time of his retirement, Hubbard's 37 years as Bishop marked the longest tenure of any Bishop in the history of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.
Hubbard has not been serving in active ministry since the initial lawsuits were filed in 2019.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Albany. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Albany, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Albany now have legal options to recover damages due to a compensation fund created for victims. Call us at 888-283-9922 or send an email to adam@adamhorowitzlaw.com to discuss your options today.