Father Theodore Zabowski – Diocese of Pittsburgh

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
1970 Ordained in the Diocese of Pittsbugh;
1970 – 1975 St. Lawrence O’Toole Church, Garfield, PA
1975 – 1980 Most Holy Name Church, North Side, PA
1980 – 1981 Holy Family Church, Lawrenceville, PA
1981 – 1982 St. Catherine of Sweden Church, Wildwood, PA
1982 – 1985 St. Mary’s Church, Glenshaw, PA
1985 – 1992 St. Adalbert’s Church, South Side, PA
1992 – 1996 St. Richard’s Church, Richland Township, PA
1996 “Leave of Absence”
1996 – 2000 Immaculate Conception Church, Washington, PA
2000 – 2002 “Leave of Absence”
Sources:
  • Report I of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, released by the Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General, dated July 27, 2018
  • 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.)

Father Zabowski withdrew from ministry in 2002.

Summary:
  • Father Theodore Zabowski was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on approximately ten occasions in approximately 1974 when the boy was approximately 13 years old. At the time of the sexual abuse, Father Zabowski was assigned to St. Lawrence O’Toole Church in Garfield, Pennsylvania.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Zabowski took place in the rectory affiliated with St. Lawrence O’Toole Church and in various locations in the neighborhood near the church. On multiple occasions, Father Zabowski fondled the boy’s buttocks and/or genitals over the boy’s clothing while Father Zabowski was “play wrestling” with the boy. On one occasion in the rectory, Father Zabowski gave the boy alcohol to drink and then reached into the boy’s clothing, fondling the boy’s penis and testicles skin-on-skin.
  • The claim settled in 2020 in the low five figures.