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Michael Kevin John, who worked at Blessed Sacrament High School in New Rochelle in the late 1970s, and Robert Louis Pavlica, who worked for Iona Preparatory School in the 1960s, were among four former members of the Irish Christian Brothers Order who are facing charges of sexual abuse.
Rev. John Paddack, worked for the New York Archdiocese and was a priest at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, according to lawyers representing their alleged victims. Cardinal Hayes High School was overseen by the Irish Christian Brothers when he worked there in the 1990s. The fourth accused cleric, Patrick O’Toole, also worked for Cardinal Hayes High School.
John and Pavlica have since left the Order and O’Toole is no longer an active cleric.
The Irish Christian Brothers - also known as the Congregation of Christian Brothers - filed for bankruptcy in 2011 following repeated claims of sexual abuse involving clerics. A judge in Manhattan later approved settlements on behalf of more than 400 alleged victims to the tune of approximately $16 million.
According to the New York Daily News, Jeff Anderson, whose law firm represents the alleged victims, said that “we represented survivors against each of these four individuals in claims brought against the Irish Christian Brothers. In each of these claims, they received settlement funds from the Irish Christian Brothers.
The Daily News report said that the Archdiocese has declined comment on the Irish Christian Brothers, but noted that the names of “any” cleric accused of abuse have been shared with the state attorney general and the district attorneys who serve each of the ten counties that fall within the diocese.
The latest claims of abuse come after lawyers named more than 100 people who are accused of sexual misconduct within the Archdiocese. Of those suspects, 57 are believed to be alive, 42 are dead and 13 have not been located.
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