Father Eugene J. O’Brien
Archdiocese of New York
Ordained: 1956
Died: 2019
Assigned as follows:
- 1956-1957: College of the Sacred Heart (Woodstock, MD)
- 1957-1958: St. Robert’s Hall (Pomfret, CT)
- 1958-1959: Fordham University (Bronx, NY)
- 1959-1960: St. Peter’s Preparatory (Jersey City, NJ)
- 1961-1980: Fordham Preparatory (Bronx, NY)
- 1980-1983: Leonard Neale House (Washington, DC)
- 1983-1985: Fairfield College Preparatory (Fairfield, CT)
- 1985-1994: Jesuit Community, Fordham University (Bronx, NY)
- 1994-2008: America Magazine (New York, NY)
- 1995-2002: The Gregorian University Foundation (New York, NY)
- 2003-2012: Unknown
- 2013: Jogues Retreat Center, Cornwall, NY (NY)
- 2014-2018: Unknown
Summary of Abuse Allegations against Father Eugene J. O’Brien:
Fr. Eugene J O’Brien was ordained a Jesuit priest of the New York Province. He was principal of Fordham Preparatory from 1960 until 1979, principal at Fairfield College Prep, vice president for community relations at Fordham University, and president of the Gregorian University Foundation in New York, a Jesuit institute. From 1995 to 2002, he was president of the fundraising foundation for the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
According to media reports, in January 1997, a lawsuit alleging that O’Brien sexually abused a boy at Fordham Prep in the early 1970s was settled for $25,000. He allegedly abused the boy multiple times, over a period of several years, including during a European trip with O’Brien and five other students.
“I don’t know if I was raped or penetrated, but I was violated,” O’Brien’s accuser told the press. “He would jump in the bed with me and I would just shut down, close my eyes and go somewhere else,” he said.
When he met the priest in 1997, O’Brien admitted to the abuse and blamed his actions on alcohol abuse, however, he would not apologize. He was removed from ministry in 2002. As of February 2009, he was a retired priest living at a Jesuit facility in midtown Manhattan.
In January 2019, O’Brien’s name was included on the Jesuits list who have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse. It noted that O’Brien admitted to allegations of child sexual abuse reported in 1993 beginning in the 1960s.
O’Brien died in 2019.
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