Denver Newsroom, Mar 28, 2022 / 14:34 pm
In a deposition released March 25, the former Bishop of Albany admitted that he did not report several instances of alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests, instead choosing to keep the allegations quiet and to refer the priests for treatment.
Bishop Emeritus Howard Hubbard, who led the diocese from 1977 until 2014, is himself facing allegations of abuse — which he denies — as well as numerous lawsuits filed under New York’s 2019 Child Victims Act. That legislation set up a one-year window, since extended until August 2021, for clergy sex abuse lawsuits in cases where the statute of limitations had previously expired.
Hubbard returned to active ministry several priests who were accused of abuse and underwent treatment.
The deposition was done in 2021 as part of Hubbard’s response to the Child Victims Act lawsuits. According to the Associated Press, Hubbard testified he didn’t report the allegations to law enforcement because he didn’t feel he was required by law to do so, and instead kept the allegations secret out of concern for “scandal and the respect of the priesthood.”