Father Nicholas V. Cudemo
Diocese of Orlando
Placed on leave: 1996
Laicized: 2005
Suits filed: 1992, 2005, 2011
Died: July 31, 2021 in Orlando, FL
Assignment History:
- 1963-1968: St. Stanislaus (Lansdale, PA)
- 1968: Our Lady of Angels (Philadelphia, PA)
- 1968-1969: Saint John Neumann High School (Philadelphia, PA)
- 1968-1969: St. Paul (Philadelphia, PA)
- 1969-1973: Archbishop Kennedy High School
- 1969: SS. Cosmas/Damian (Conshohocken, PA)
- 1969-1971: St. Helena (Center Square, PA)
- 1971-1977: St. Titus (Norristown, PA)
- 1973-1977: Cardinal Dougherty High School (Philadelphia, PA)
- 1977-1982: St. Mary Magdalen De Pazzi (Philadelphia, PA)
- 1982-1987: St. Irenaeus (Philadelphia, PA)
- 1987-1989: Epiphany (Philadelphia, PA)
- 1989-1991: King of Peace (Philadelphia, PA)
- 1991-1996: St. Callistus (Philadelphia, PA)
- 1992-1996: Administrative Leave
- 1996-2005: Retired, Archdiocese of Philadelphia
Summary of Allegations Against Father Nicholas Cudemo:
According to the 2005 Grand Jury Report, Fr. Nicholas Cudemo raped an 11-year-old girl, molested a fifth-grader in the confessional, invoked God to seduce and shame his victims, and maintained sexually abusive relationships simultaneously with several girls from the Catholic school where he was a teacher.
Fr. Cudemo was accused of sexually abusing between 11-16 young girls in the 1960s and 1970s. According to the report, his own family sued him for molesting a cousin. Only after the victims threatened to name the Cardinal and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in a lawsuit, Father Cudemo was removed from his pastorate.
A list of some of the victims identified in evidence before the Grand Jury clarifies both Father Cudemo's unrelenting depravity and the extent of Church leaders' knowledge when they kept reassigning the priest. This list includes only those girls who were the subject of formal complaints made to Archdiocesan managers. It does not include girls' names that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia learned of either secondhand from the victims who came forward or from the priest himself.
The report also notes that Fr. Cudemo was named a diagnosed pedophile in the secret 1994 memo from Wm. Lynn to Monsignor Molloy. Father Cudemo was eventually laicized in 2005. Fr. Cudemo currently resides in Orlando, Florida. According to the grand-jury report, Cudemo began bringing girls and young women to Florida for extended vacations in the late 1970s, where some of the abuse occurred.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Orlando in Florida. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Florida, contact our office today. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Florida and nationwide. We can help.
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