Priest Jupin Clergy Abuse
Author: Cayla Harris
ALBANY – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany on Tuesday added Rev. Alan Jupin – who spent most of his tenure as a priest at Our Lady of Fatima, now St. Kateri Tekakwitha, in Schenectady – to its list of priests and clergy “credibly accused” of sexually abusing children.
Jupin, who died in January 2019, is accused of molesting five children in Schenectady and Albany in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He is the latest, and the first 2020 addition, to a list of nearly 50 priests and clergy who have substantive complaints of molestation filed against them, as determined by a diocesan review panel.
Jupin’s name was added to the list after the review board hired an investigator last year to probe a new allegation against the reverend, as well as past accusations that the panel had previously decided were unsubstantiated. Jupin had been placed on administrative leave twice – in 2003 and 2011 – for allegations of sexually abusing children, but the review board at those times found those accusations to have “no reasonable cause for action.”
The 2019 investigation, instead, did find reasonable cause to add Jupin’s name to the list, according to a release from the Albany Diocese. The review board meets privately to determine whether sexual abuse allegations are credible and typically relies on information from private investigators; ultimately, the bishop is responsible for any action against priests.
The new allegation surfaced in late August through a lawsuit filed under New York’s landmark Child Victims Act, which last year opened a short-term “look-back” window temporarily eliminating statutes of limitations for civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of children. In that case, an anonymous plaintiff – identified only as John Doe – alleged that Jupin had abused him in 1988 and 1989, when the priest was serving as a pastor at Our Lady of Mercy in Colonie. At the time, the plaintiff was about 11 and 12 years old.