Father Robert J. Klem, C.S.B. – Congregation of St. Basil, a.k.a. the Basilians, and the Diocese of Rochester

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
1957 Ordained
1958 – 1985 The Aquinas Institute, Rochester, NY (Diocese of Rochester)
1986 – 1988 Not indexed
1989 – 2013 Basilian Mission Center, Sugar Land, TX (Diocese of Galveston-Houston)
2014 – 2020 “Retired” – in residence at the Dillon House, Houston, TX (Diocese of GalvestonHouston)
Source:
  • The Official Catholic Directory, Kenedy & Sons

(The years listed above are the publication years of the Official Catholic Directory. According to the Directory, the assignments provided for a given year are effective as of January 1 of that year. This means that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year at a parish or school was likely at the same assignment for at least part of the previous year as well.)

Summary:
  • As of December 2020, Father Klem appears to still be listed as a retired priest living in Houston, Texas.
  • Father Robert J. Klem, C.S.B., was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on at least three occasions from approximately 1968 to 1970 when the boy was approximately 14 to 16 years old. At the time of the sexual abuse, Father Klem was assigned to the Aquinas Institute in Rochester, New York.
  • The sexual abuse took place in Father Klem’s residence at the Aquinas Institute, at a house in the area of Greece, New York, and during a trip to Quebec, Canada. The sexual abuse by Father Klem included the following: Father Klem fondled the boy’s penis and testicles, skin-on-skin, and made the boy fondle Father Klem’s penis and testicles, skin-on-skin; Father Klem performed oral sex on the boy; and Father Klem sodomized the boy.
  • The claim settled in 2020 in the low six figures.