Fr. Michael Amy – Archdiocese of Baltimore

by | Jul 12, 2023 | Abuser Profiles, Catholic Church

Father Michael Amy

Archdiocese of Baltimore/Erie

Michael Amy Horowitz Law

Ordained: 1978

Removed: 1993

Assignment History

  • 1978-1979: Our Lady of Peace (Erie, PA)
  • 1979-1985: Cathedral Preparatory School (Erie, PA)
  • 1979-1981: Blessed Sacrament (Erie, PA)
  • 1981-1985: Holy Trinity (Erie, PA)
  • 1985-1988: Elk County Catholic High School
  • 1985-1986: Holy Rosary (Johnsonburg, PA)
  • 1985-1986: St. Callistus (Kane, PA)
  • 1985-1988: Holy Rosary (St. Mary’s, PA)
  • 1988-1990: Bradford Central Christian High School (Bradford, PA)
  • 1988-1990: St. Bernard (Bradford, PA)
  • 1989-1991: St. Callistus (Kane, PA)
  • 1991-1993: Absent on Sick Leave

Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Father Michael Amy:

Fr. Michael Amy was ordained a priest in 1978 and served in multiple parishes in the Diocese of Erie. In 2023, Fr. Amy was added to the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Credibly Accused of Sexual Abuse of Minors list. Although Fr. Amy was never assigned to the Archdiocese of Baltimore, according to the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report, he was alleged to have engaged in child sexual abuse in Maryland.

According to Bishop Accountability, in 1993, Fr. Amy first admitted in writing that he sexually abused boys in his care. According to a letter he wrote to a Diocese not identified in the grand jury report, he “took the opportunity to touch the genitals of several boys” while working at Camp Notre Dame as a seminarian in 1974 or 1975.  According to Amy, one of the boys ran away and reported his molestation when he was located by Pennsylvania state police. Amy was taken into custody, but no criminal charges were ever filed. He admitted to patronizing male prostitutes throughout his career as a priest, including his assignments in the Pittsburgh and Baltimore Dioceses.

In 1991, a man contacted the Diocese of Erie to report he was sexually abused as a 14-year-old boy in the early 1980s.  He was working as a prostitute to support a drug habit. Amy would give him money for sex, some of which occurred in the rectory at Holy Trinity parish.  Amy was removed and sent for a psych eval at St. Luke Institute, a notorious treatment facility for pedophile priests in Suitland, Maryland.

In 1993, the Diocese of Erie took the unusual step of seeking to have Amy removed from the priesthood (involuntary laicization) due to the scandalous nature of his ongoing conduct. Information was provided that priests who oversaw Amy’s seminary education had actual knowledge that he was sexually abusing children even before he became a priest. One even said, “I personally wondered when these things would resurface,” according to the documents reviewed by the grand jury.

The priest who ran Camp Notre Dame flatly denied any knowledge of negative incidents involving Amy, including that which resulted in Amy being taken into custody by Pennsylvania state police.

In late 2002, a second victim reported to the Diocese of Erie that he was sexually abused by Amy as a student at Cathedral Prep High School in the early 1980s. The abuse began in the confessional with inappropriate questions from the priest and led to multiple instances of fondling the child.

Amy never returned to ministry after his removal in 1991, and Bishop Accountability says he was laicized at some point. In 2018, Fr. Amy was named publicly as accused in the PA Grand Jury report.

Amy resides in Niceville, Florida. Fr. Amy’s name appears on the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Credibly Accused of Sexual Abuse of Minors list.

Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Maryland, contact our office today. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse nationwide. We can help. Contact us at 888-283-9922 or [email protected] to discuss your options today.