Father Robert Patterson – Archdiocese of Newark

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
Approx. 1958 Ordained in the Archdiocese of Newark
1958 – 1963 Blessed Sacrament Church, Newark, NJ
1964 – 1968 Corpus Christi Church, Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
1969 – 1979 Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, Newark, NJ
1980 – 1991 Christ the King Church, Jersey City, NJ
1992 – 2002 St. John’s Church, Orange, NJ
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:
  • Father Patterson died in 2002.
  • Father Robert Patterson was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on at least two occasions in approximately 1969 when the male child was approximately ten years old. At the time of the sexual abuse, Father Patterson was assigned to Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Newark, New Jersey, and the male child was an altar boy at the church.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Patterson included the following: Father Patterson fondled the boy’s penis and testicles, skin-on-skin, and Father Patterson made the boy sit on Father Patterson’s lap such that the boy could feel Father Patterson’s erect penis pressing against the boy’s buttocks over their clothing.
  • The claim settled in May 2020 in the mid six figures.