Father Joseph Mundy
Diocese of Rockville Centre
Ordained: 1981
Resigned: 1999
Assigned as follows:
- 1982-1986 St. Gerard Majella (Terryville, NY)
- 1987-1988 Sacred Heart (Cutchogue, NY)
- 1989-1994 St. James (Setauket, NY)
- 1995 Unknown
- 1996-1999 St. John the Baptist (Wading River, NY); SS Peter and Paul (Manor River, NY)
- 2000 Absent on Leave
- 2001-2002 Unknown
- 2003-2004 Absent on Leave
- 2005-2019 Unknown
Summary of Abuse Allegations Against Father Joseph T. Mundy:
Father Joseph Mundy worked in various parishes throughout the Diocese of Rockville Centre for about twenty years. According to media reports, in 1994, a religious educator reported Father Mundy to Monsignor Alan Placa (later accused of abuse himself), after learning during a church retreat, that a 14-year-old former altar boy was being “groomed” for sex by the priest. The boy told her that Father Mundy had confided in him how lonely he was, how difficult celibacy was, and how the two of them needed each other.
“My job is to protect the bishop,” Placa said, she recalled.
The alleged sexual abuse occurred over a three-year period, while Father Mundy worked at St. John the Baptist in Wading River, New York. The alleged victim said the priest took him to a gay sex club in the West Village after the boy had confessed his fear that he might be gay. He said Father Mundy then took him to a back room, tried to sodomize him, bought him pornography, and gave him vodka as he begged for sexual favors. The alleged victim said the trauma of what happened to him left him scarred and suicidal. He also claimed that Father Mundy abused his close friend too.
After the allegations were made, Father Mundy refused to go for treatment at St. Luke Institute but agreed to see a private counselor on Long Island.
Later, a second survivor came forward to report that Father Mundy had also sexually abused him as a child in the rectory at St. John the Baptist.
In 2003, a Suffolk County Grand Jury report regarding the Diocese of Rockville Centre’s handling of clergy sexual abuse allegations was released. According to the report, the description of Priest A matches public allegations against Father Mundy.
Mundy resigned from the priesthood in 1999. His current whereabouts are unknown. He is listed on the Diocese of Rockville Centre’s 2021 List of Clergy Credibly Accused of Sexual Abuse of a Minor. The list states that the alleged sexual abuse occurred in Mundy’s car, a movie theater, at a nightclub, and at Mundy’s home in New Hampshire.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in New York, contact our office today. In October 2020, the Rockville Centre Diocese filed for federal bankruptcy protection. The Court will resolve all claims of sexual abuse in this process but strict filing deadlines will apply and no late claims will be considered, so contact us today. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in New York and nationwide. We can help.
Contact us at 888-283-9922 or [email protected] to discuss your options today.