Father Anthony Cipolla – Diocese of Pittsburgh

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
Approx. 1972 Ordained in the Diocese of Pittsburgh
1972 – 1974 St. Bernard Church, Mt. Lebanon, PA
1974 – 1975 Immaculate Conception Church, Washington, PA
1975 St. Philomena Church, Beaver Falls, PA
1975 – 1976 St. Agatha Church, Bridgeville, PA
1976 – 1978 St. Francis Xavier Church, Pittsburgh, PA
1978 – 1983 St. Canice Church, Knoxville, PA
1983 St. Philip Church, Crafton, PA
1983 – 1988 McGuire Memorial Home for Exceptional Children (chaplain), New Brighton, PA
Sources:
  • Report I of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, released by the Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General, dated July 27, 2018; and
  • The Official Catholic Directory, Kenedy & Sons

Father Cipolla is not indexed in the Official Catholic Directory after 1988. According to the Grand Jury report, Father Cipolla was laicized in 2002.

Summary:
  • Father Anthony Cipolla was accused of sexually abusing two male minor children in approximately 1977 and 1978. One boy was approximately twelve years old at the time of the abuse, and the other boy was approximately nine years old. At the time of the sexual abuse, Father Cipolla was assigned to St. Francis Xavier Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the boys were parishioners of the church. The sexual abuse took place in locations including the rectory affiliated with St. Francis Xavier Church.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Cipolla included the following: under the guise of giving the boys “physical examinations,” Father Cipolla fondled the boys’ genitals, skin-on-skin, and inserted his finger into their anuses.
  • The claims both settled in 2020 in the low six figures.