Bishop John Jenik

Ordained: 1970

Removed: 2018

Laicized: 2019

Assignment History:

1971-1974: St. Jerome's (Bronx, NY)
1975-1978: St. Thomas Aquinas (Bronx, NY)
1979-2018: Our Lady of Refuge (Bronx, NY)
2010-2012: Priests Council of the Archdiocese of New York (NY)
2015-2018: Titular Bishop of Druas; Auxiliary Bishop of New York (NY)
2011-2014: Archdiocesan Consultors (NY)
2019: Unknown

Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Bishop John Jenik:

Bishop John Jenik was ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of New York in 1970. He became an Auxiliary Bishop of New York in 2014.

In 2018, Jenik was accused of allegedly sexually abusing a minor boy in the 1980s at Our Lady of Refuge in the Bronx, New York. The victim reported that Jenik cultivated an inappropriate relationship with him during the 1980s, which involved dozens of trips upstate to Jenik's country house in Tivoli, New York. He allegedly was given alcohol and groped him while in bed with Jenik. The victim says the abuse occurred when he was between the ages of 13 and 17.

In 2020, Jenik was named in a lawsuit of trafficking a 14-year-old boy to a convicted child molester, counselor Paul Gruber, at Our Lady of Refuge parish school, in the 1980s. According to media reports, Jenik knew exactly what he was doing when he recommended the boy go visit Gruber. Jenik allegedly knew that Gruber was abusing students at the school and he was abusing children himself at the time as well.

Jenik was removed from ministry in 2018 after the Archdiocese of New York found the allegations credible. Jenik is listed on the Archdiocese of New York's 2019 List of Archdiocesan Clergy Credibly Accused of Sexual Abuse of a Minor or the Subject of Eligible IRCP Compensation Claims. The Vatican announced in 2019 that the pope had accepted Jenik's resignation.

Jenik's whereabouts and whether he has access to children are unknown.

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.

Bishop John Jenik – Archdiocese of New York