Father James V. Lannon
Archdiocese of Washington/Baltimore/Sulpician
Ordained: 1931
Removed: 1958
Died: 1984
Assignment History
- 1931-1932: The Sulpicians
- 1933 – 1939: St. Rose of Lima (Baltimore, MD)
- 1940 – 1943: All Saints (Baltimore, MD)
- 1944-1946 St. Joseph’s (Washington, DC)
- 1947-1949: Holy Name (Washington, DC)
Summary of Abuse Allegations Against Father James V. Lannon:
Father James Lannon joined the Sulpician Order and was ordained a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Washington DC in the 1940s and worked in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland. In 2018, Father Lannon’s name appeared on the Archdiocese of Washington’s list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors. In 2019, Fr. Lannon was listed on the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Credibly Accused of Sexual Abuse of Minors list. In April 2023, Maryland’s Attorney General released a report alleging 156 Catholic clergy members sexually abused at least 600 children over six decades. The report lists the names of the abusers, including Father James Lannon.
According to the Attorney General’s report, in 2002, a woman reported that Fr. Lannon sexually abused her and another in the mid-1930s while she was a student at the St. Rose of Lima School in Baltimore, Maryland, when she was nine years old. The victim claimed that Lannon told her he would drive her to visit a friend, and because she trusted him, she went with him. Instead, Fr. Lannon drove down a “deserted farm road,” parked his car, and exposed himself to the young girl, asking her to touch his penis. She reported that it happened on three separate occasions. After the third incident, the victim told her mother about the abuse, and her mother called the priest and told him to stay away from her daughter.
According to an internal document of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Archdiocese of Washington “acknowledges a documented history of sexual impropriety with teenaged boys on Lannon’s part” and that they first learned of Lannon’s abuse in 1953 and placed Lannon on a temporary leave of absence in 1954. Fr. Lannon was permanently removed in 1958.
Fr. Lannon died in 1985.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Archdiocese of Washington. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Washington, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Archdiocese of Washington now have legal options to recover damages due to a compensation fund created for victims. Call us at 888-283-9922 or email [email protected] to discuss your options today.