Father Donald Philip Baker
Diocese of Charlotte
Ordained: 1980
Left the ministry: 1994
Assigned as Follows:
- Holy Infant Catholic Church (Reidsville, NC)
- Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church (Greensboro, NC)
- St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church (Lenoir, NC)
- St. Joseph Catholic Church (Newton, NC)
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations against Father Donald Philip Baker:
Father Donald Philip Baker was ordained a priest in 1980, and served in multiple parishes in the Diocese of Charlotte. According to media reports, in March of 2017, a man reported to the Diocese of Charlotte that Father Donald Baker sexually abused him at St. Francis of Assisi from 1986 to 1989. The alleged victim was a teenager at the time. The diocese alerted the police, but no criminal charges were ever filed. At the time, Baker was living in Arizona where he had relocated in 1991 to work briefly in the Diocese of Phoenix.
Baker left the ministry in 1994. He has never been laicized by the Vatican and remains technically a priest, albeit without an assignment.
In 2019, the Diocese of Charlotte added Baker’s name to its list of credibly accused priests after the Diocese’s internal review board determined that the allegation was more than likely true. Baker denies all alleged wrongdoing.
In November 2021, Baker was named in a lawsuit filed against the Diocese of Charlotte by a man who says that he was abused by Baker from 1985 to 1989, starting when he was only 7 years old. According to the lawsuit, Baker said the abuse was necessary to “bless” parts of the boy’s body, and that Baker sometimes recorded the abuse on a video camera.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Charlotte in North Carolina. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in North Carolina, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Charlotte now have legal options, but filing deadlines will apply so do not delay in reaching out to us. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in North Carolina and nationwide. We can help.
Contact us at 888-283-9922 or [email protected] to discuss your options today.