Jack Kennington: Accused of Sexual Misconduct

Jack Kennington

Fr. Jack Kennington worked at the following locations:

  • 1959: Ordained
  • 1959-1961: Mount St. Alphonsus, Esopus, NY
  • 1961-1970: Aquidauana, Mato Grosso, Brazil (Diocese of Corumbá)
  • 1970-1973: Antonina, Paraná, Brazil (Diocese of Paranaguá)
  • 1973-1974: Paraná, Brazil (Archdiocese of Curitiba)
  • 1974-1979: Paraná, Brazil (Diocese of Ponta Grossa)
  • 1979-1981: Sacred Heart of Jesus, Baltimore, MD
  • 1979-1981: Holy Redeemer Chapel; St. Gerard’s Chapel, Baltimore, MD
  • 1981-1983: Catholic Information Center at Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
  • 1983-1990: Most Holy Redeemer, New York, NY
  • 1990: Director of the Archdiocesan Drug and Alcohol, Rehabilitate and Educate (DARE) Program, New York (Manhattan), NY
  • 1990-1993: Unknown
  • 1993-1994: Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Opa Locka, FL (Archdiocese of Miami)
  • 1994-1995: Unknown
  • 1995-2003: Mount St. Alphonsus, Esopus, NY
  • 2003-2004: Archdiocese of New York (unknown assignment)
  • 2004-2016: Kennington celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination in 2009. By 2010 he was living in Brooklyn, near the Order’s Basilica, and in 2016 he remained an active Redemptorist.

Fr. Kennington was ordained a Roman Catholic priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (“Redemptorists”) in 1959. He was assigned to parishes in the Archdiocese of New York and the Archdiocese of Baltimore, in addition to working as a priest in Brazil for nearly two decades. From 1995 to 2005, Fr Kennington lived at the Redemptorist residence, Mt. St. Alphonsus, in Esopus, New York, within the Archdiocese of New York. In 2009, the Redemptorists celebrated Fr. Kennington’s 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood, and as of 2016 he remained a Redemptorist priest in good standing. Fr. Kennington currently lives at the Redemptorist Fathers of New York residence in Brooklyn. His access to and proximity to children is unknown.

Fr. Kennington has been accused of sexual abuse by at least two individuals, a sister and brother pair who were parishioners of Most Holy Redeemer in Manhattan, New York, at the time of abuse. According to the allegations, Fr. Kennington sexually abused the siblings between 1984 and 1987, beginning when the girl was 11 years old and the boy was 8 years old. The brother filed a suit in 1993, which settled in 2001, but the sister was unable to sue because the statute of limitations had expired.