Fr. Patrick O’Shea: Accused of Sexual Misconduct With Minors

Fr. Patrick O’Shea

Patrick O'Shea

Ordination: 1958

Assignments:

  • 1958-1969: Mission Dolores Basilica, San Francisco, CA
  • 1969-1970: On duty outside the Archdiocese
  • 1970-1978: Most Holy Redeemer, San Francisco, CA
  • 1970-1994: Holy Childhood Pontifical Association, San Francisco, CA
  • 1972-1982: Assistant Director for Vocations, San Francisco, CA
  • 1971-1982: San Francisco Society for the Propagation of the Faith, San Francisco, CA
  • 1978-1990: Holy Name of Jesus, San Francisco, CA
  • 1985-1994: San Francisco Society for the Propagation of the Faith, San Francisco, CA
  • 1989-1992: Serra Club of West San Francisco Area (Golden Gate)
  • 1990-1994: St. Cecilia, San Francisco, CA
  • 1994-1995: Unknown
  • 1995-2003: Absent on leave
  • 2003-2018: Unknown

Fr. Patrick O’Shea was criminally charged with child sexual abuse, but the charges were dropped due to the statute of limitation. In the mid-1990s, Fr. O’Shea was named in multiple civil child sexual abuse lawsuits, both of which settled. The Archdiocese of San Francisco permanently stripped him of his faculties in 1995 and applied for his laicization. As of 2003, the application for laicization remained pending. Fr. O’Shea was convicted of grand theft and tax fraud in 2004 and put on probation. His whereabouts and whether he had access to children from 1994 to 2018 are unknown.