Father Robert Huneke
Diocese of St. Petersburg
Ordained: 1969
Resigned: 1989
Assignment History:
- 1970-1974: St. Dominic’s (Oyster Bay, NY)
- 1975-1978: Absent on Leave
- 1978-1979: St. Anthony High School (Smithtown, NY)
- 1979: St. Patrick (Smithtown, NY)
- 1980-1982: Christ the King (Tampa, FL)
- 1983-1988: St. Aidan’s (Williston Park, NY)
- 1989: St. Patrick’s (Huntington, NY)
- 1990-2002: Absent on Leave
Summary of Abuse Allegations against Father Robert D. Huneke:
Father Robert D. Huneke was ordained a priest of the Marist order. According to media reports, in 1980, a man accused Father Huneke of sexually abusing him for years, starting when he was 13 years old, from 1969 until 1976 at St. Dominic’s High School in Oyster Bay, New York. The abuse continued while the boy attended Notre Dame and Father Huneke served as a rector at the college. Father Huneke admitted the abuse to Bishop John McGann, but was still allowed to remain in ministry. He was transferred to Florida where he worked as a visiting priest for the Diocese of St. Petersburg later that year.
In 1982, the survivor notified the Florida bishop at Christ the King in Tampa where Father Huneke was working. The Diocese of St. Petersburg sent him back to New York. In 1989, the survivor went public prompting Father Huneke to leave the priesthood. The survivor went public again in 1993. At least two more survivors who were brothers have since accused him of child sexual abuse while at St. Dominic’s High School. Neither boy knew the other was being abused.
Father Huneke later married a former nun and worked as a high school guidance counselor at the Marist School in Atlanta, Georgia. When the survivor found out in 2002, he notified the Order of the allegations against the priest, and Father Huneke was fired. He died later that year.
In 2003, Father Huneke was identified as Priest M in the 2003 Suffolk County Grand Jury report.
“Four victims of this priest testified to the grand jury. ‘By Priest M’s own admissions there could have been more.’ Two of the four were brothers. The priest’s abuse of the boys was ‘relentless’ and included following them to their college.”
In a 2018 lawsuit, another survivor came forward alleging that Father Huneke sexually abused him as a 9-year-old boy in 1981 at Christ the King in Tampa, Florida.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of St. Petersburg 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.
Contact us at 888-283-9922 or [email protected] to discuss your options today.