Father Edward A. Pipala
Archdiocese of New York
Ordained: 1966
Removed: 1992
Laicized: 2005
Died: 2013
Assigned as follows:
-
- 1966-1975: Cardinal Hayes High School (Bronx, NY)
- 1975-1979: Moore Catholic High School (Staten Island, NY)
- 1977: St. Margaret Mary (New York, NY)
- 1977-1981: St. Joseph’s (Croton Falls, NY)
- 1981-1988: Sacred Heart (Monroe, NY)
- 1989-1992: St. John’s (Goshen, NY)
- 1993-2001: Absent on Leave
- 2002-2012: Unknown
Summary of Abuse Allegations against Father Edward A Pipala:
According to media reports, in 1977, two brothers told the archdiocese that Fr. Edward A Pipala abused and raped them when they were students at Moore Catholic High School on Staten Island, where he was a teacher. Pipala admitted to the abuse and was sent for psychiatric counseling. He was allowed to return to ministry and was reassigned to St. Joseph’s in Croton Falls, New York where he abused again. He was transferred to Sacred Heart in Monroe, NY in 1981. In 1992, he was removed from his assignment at St. John’s in Goshen, NY, and sent to St. Luke Institute for more treatment.
In 1993, Pipala pleaded guilty to child sex abuse charges and served seven years in prison. As one victim said, “He got seven years, we got life.” In 2000, he was released from prison and laicized in 2005. In 2009, he was a registered sex offender in New York.
According to media reports, Pipala is alleged to have sexually abused as many as 50 boys at several parishes in the Archdiocese of New York. In April 2019, his name appeared on the Archdiocese of New York’s list of clergy credibly accused of sex abuse of minors. Claims against him are eligible to be settled through the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP).
In January 2020, he was accused in a lawsuit filed under the NY Child Victims Act, of sexually abusing a 12-year-old child in 1989 at St. John’s in Goshen, New York, and that he abused over 50 boys while at the parish, including “violent, sadistic rape.” Three more suits were filed later that month.
As of February 2020, at least 10 people filed lawsuits alleging they were sexually abused as children by Fr. Edward A Pipala. One victim said he started abusing him when he was 13 years old and estimated that it happened about 150 times over a five-year period.
Another estimated Pipala assaulted him up to 200 times while he was the priest at Sacred Heart and then at St. John the Evangelist in Goshen, New York where he led as its pastor until 1992. The abuse occurred in the church basement and rectory at Sacred Heart and at a Jersey Shore condo where Pipala used to bring groups of boys for overnight stays. According to one case, two plaintiffs jointly filed in NY Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Pipala died in 2013.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Archdiocese of New York. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest or other Catholic clergy in New York State, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Archdiocese of New York 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 New York and nationwide. We can help.
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