Father Brian McKeon
Diocese of Rockville Centre
Ordained: 1977
Removed: 2001
Laicized: 2003
Died: 2009
Assigned as follows:
- 1977-1982: St. Anthony of Padua (East Northport, NY)
- 1982-1990: Good Shepherd (Holbrook, NY)
- 1990-1999: St. Anne’s (Garden City, NY)
- 1999-2001: Nassau County Medical Center (East Meadow, NY)
- 2001: Our Lady of Good Counsel (Mattituck, NY)
- 2002-2009: St. Patrick (Bayshore, NY)
Summary of Abuse Allegations Against Father Brian McKeon:
According to media reports, Father Brian McKeon had sexually abused a 15-year-old boy in 1987 when working at Good Shepherd in Holbrook, NY. When the boy died suddenly of natural causes, he conducted the funeral. While comforting the boy’s brother, Father McKeon went on to abuse him, as well. When the family later found out, they reported it to Monsignor Placa. No action was taken by the Diocese of Rockville Centre. He was finally removed from ministry in November 2001, after two more parents alleged child sexual abuse by the priest.
During his first assignment at St. Anthony of Padua, Father McKeon admitted to a pastor that he had acted “inappropriately” with a teenager. He was sent to a treatment center in Canada, and upon his return, reassigned to Nassau University Medical Center.
“I thought it was just a one-time thing,” said Monsignor Edward Donnelly, the priest’s supervisor in East Northport. “I know, in hindsight, probably I should have done more. And I am sorry about that.”
Father McKeon went on to allegedly sexually abusing nine boys over a period of twenty years. He reportedly regularly had young boys up in his room in the Holbrook rectory drinking alcohol “at least once a week,” with the boys sometimes sleeping there overnight.
“I was wrong and I admitted I was wrong,” Father McKeon said in a 2002 Newsday interview.
He was laicized in 2003. That same year, the description of Priest C in the Suffolk County Grand Jury report matched the public allegations against Father McKeon.
“He ‘wreaked havoc’ by abusing boys as young as 10. ‘For this, he was rewarded by being a pastor … He left behind a trail of alcohol abuse, depression, anger and disillusionment,’ and his own pastor ‘turned a blind eye to his behavior.’”
Father McKeon died in April 2009 in Florida. He is listed on the Diocese of Rockville Centre’s 2021 List of Clergy Credibly Accused of Sexual Abuse of a Minor.
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.