Bishop Hubbard: Allegations, Deposition, and Vatican Petition

Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, who led the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany from 1977 to 2014, faced abuse allegations from at least ten people who said he sexually abused them as minors between the mid-1970s and the 1990s. He denied every accusation until his death in August 2023, but admitted under oath in a 2021 deposition that he had helped cover up at least 11 abuse allegations against other priests in the diocese. Seven civil lawsuits were pending against him when he died, and the claims were absorbed into the Albany Diocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which announced a $148 million settlement for abuse survivors in March 2026.¹²

Who Accused Hubbard and What They Alleged

The lawsuits began arriving in 2019, after New York’s Child Victims Act opened a window allowing survivors to sue over childhood abuse regardless of how long ago it occurred. By the time Hubbard died, at least ten people had accused him. Nine were children at the time of the alleged conduct. The claims spanned from the mid-1970s through the early 1990s and placed the alleged abuse at parishes across the Albany Diocese.³

A plaintiff said Hubbard repeatedly assaulted him, including anal rape, between 1974 and 1976 when he was 9 to 11 years old at St. James Church in Albany.³
A teenage boy alleged abuse at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Troy between 1976 and 1978.
An 11-year-old boy alleged abuse at the rectory of St. Edward the Confessor in Clifton Park in the summer of 1977.
A teenage girl alleged assault in the late 1970s at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Schenectady; her suit also named two deceased priests.⁴
Two brothers said Hubbard abused them in the mid-1980s alongside convicted priest Gary Mercure, in Lake George motels, a rectory, and Mercure’s vehicle.⁵
A boy of 9 or 10 alleged abuse in the late 1980s at St. John the Baptist Church in Chestertown, by Hubbard and another priest.⁴
A 16-year-old boy alleged an assault at St. Mary’s Church in Ballston Spa in the 1990s.

One further allegation concerned a young adult man who died by suicide in 1978 and left a note reportedly referencing abuse by someone named “Howard.”³

Hubbard denied all of the allegations. Through his attorney, Terence P. O’Connor, he said he had “never sexually abused anyone.”⁶

The Mercure Connection and a Blocked Lawsuit

Several of the most detailed accusations tied Hubbard to Gary Mercure, an Albany priest ordained in 1975. Mercure was convicted in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, in 2011, of raping altar boys and sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.⁷ Two brothers who had testified at Mercure’s trial later said publicly that Hubbard had also abused them, and that Mercure had “set up” victims for the bishop. They described car trips to Albany where both men committed sexual acts in front of them.⁵

Those two brothers could not sue under the Child Victims Act. In 2016, the diocese had paid each of them $90,000 for counseling, and the agreement included a release from future civil action.⁵ Hubbard acknowledged visiting Mercure in prison. The diocese called those visits a “pastoral responsibility.”⁷

The 2004 Debevoise Investigation

Allegations against Hubbard surfaced publicly well before the Child Victims Act. In 2004, the Albany Diocese’s Sexual Misconduct Review Board hired the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton to investigate. The inquiry was led by Mary Jo White, a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and her partner Mary Beth Hogan. The team interviewed roughly 300 people, reviewed more than 20,000 pages of documents including Hubbard’s calendars going back to 1977, phone records, and financial statements, and administered polygraph examinations to Hubbard and eight other priests or former priests.⁸

The report said investigators were “unable to find any substantiation” for the allegations before them, which at the time focused on two accusers, Thomas Zalay and Anthony Bonneau. It described the process as a thorough and “unintimidated inquiry.”⁸

Critics questioned the investigation’s scope and independence. Attorney John Aretakis, who represented survivors, called the report “nothing but fiction” and argued that White had been assigned only specific charges against Hubbard rather than a broader examination of abuse in the diocese. Journalist Fred LeBrun pointed to the structural tension of a bishop “in essence paying to have himself investigated,” while acknowledging that the $2.2 million cost had allowed every lead to be pursued.⁹

What Hubbard Admitted Under Oath

In 2021, as part of the Child Victims Act litigation, Hubbard sat for four days of deposition testimony. A judge ordered the nearly 700-page transcript released publicly in March 2022.¹⁰

Hubbard again denied personally abusing anyone. But he acknowledged that he and the diocese had covered up at least 11 abuse allegations against clergy during his tenure. He testified that records of those allegations were kept in secret files in a locked room accessible only to him and top church officials, and that the concealment was done to “avoid scandal and protect the reputation of the diocese.”¹⁰¹¹

He described the protocol used in the 1970s and 1980s. Accused priests were pulled from ministry temporarily, sent for counseling or treatment, and then returned to their parishes. Most, he said, admitted the abuse to him when confronted. He never contacted law enforcement and never warned parishioners, saying he did not believe he was legally required to do so.¹² He named several priests who were treated and returned to ministry, and testified specifically that one of them, David Bentley, had admitted the alleged behavior directly to him.¹⁰

Some of the reinstated priests abused again. Hubbard later called those reinstatement decisions a “mistake” but said they followed Catholic Church guidance at the time.¹³

The Vatican Process and His Request to Leave the Priesthood

The allegations also triggered a canonical investigation under Pope Francis’ 2019 motu proprio Vos Estis Lux Mundi, which governs investigations of bishops accused of abuse or cover-up. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan was responsible for conducting it.¹⁴

In November 2022, Hubbard asked the Vatican to laicize him, that is, to formally remove him from the priesthood and release him from his clerical obligations. He said U.S. church policy already prohibited him from exercising ministry while under accusation, so he could no longer function as a priest.¹¹ Some observers saw the request as an attempt to preempt the canonical investigation.¹⁴

The Vatican rejected the request in March 2023. Hubbard was told to “wait patiently and prayerfully” and to abstain from public ministry until the seven civil lawsuits against him had been resolved.¹⁵ He observed that with the diocese headed for bankruptcy, resolution could take years, saying he “could be 91 or 92 before these legal matters are concluded.”¹⁶

In July 2023, Hubbard married Jennifer Barrie in a civil ceremony. Albany Bishop Edward Scharfenberger said the Church did not recognize the marriage as valid and that Hubbard “remains a retired bishop of the Roman Catholic Church and therefore cannot enter into marriage.”¹⁶ Because he attempted marriage while still a cleric, Hubbard was automatically suspended from priestly ministry.¹⁷

What Happened to the Cases After His Death

Hubbard suffered a stroke on August 18, 2023, and died the following day at Albany Medical Center at age 84. A spokesperson for Jeff Anderson & Associates, which represented several accusers, said his death would not affect the pending civil cases.¹⁸

By then, the lawsuits had already been absorbed into a larger proceeding. The Albany Diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 15, 2023, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of New York, under the weight of hundreds of Child Victims Act lawsuits. The filing effectively consolidated the civil claims, including those naming Hubbard, into the bankruptcy case.²

On March 27, 2026, the diocese and the Official Committee of Tort Claimants announced a $148 million settlement for survivors of sexual abuse by clergy, religious, lay employees, and volunteers. The diocese said insurers were expected to provide a significant portion of the funds. The settlement remains subject to a creditor vote and final court approval, with negotiations continuing with insurance carriers toward a global resolution.²

Bishop Mark O’Connell, installed as the 11th Bishop of Albany on December 5, 2025, after Scharfenberger’s retirement,¹⁹ issued a formal apology that called the handling of “predator priests” a “shameful chapter” and offered what he described as a “clear and un-nuanced statement of guilt.”²⁰

1
Times Union. Former Bishop Howard Hubbard Dies at 84
2
Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. Monetary Settlement Reached in Diocese of Albany Bankruptcy Case
3
BishopAccountability.org. Allegations Against Bishop Howard Hubbard
4
Times Union. Fourth Lawsuit Claims Former Albany Bishop Sexually Abused Child
5
BishopAccountability.org. Altar Boys Who Testified at a Priest’s Trial Say Bishop Also Abused Them
6
Our Sunday Visitor. Fifth Lawsuit Accuses Retired Bishop Hubbard of Albany of Alleged Abuse
7
Times Union. Suit Seeks Diocese’s Sex Abuse Records
8
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. Report to the Diocesan Sexual Misconduct Review Board
9
BishopAccountability.org. A Fair and Thorough Investigation
10
National Catholic Reporter. Ex-Albany Bishop Acknowledges Covering Up Abuse Allegations
11
WUTC. Albany Bishop Accused of Abuse Has Asked the Pope to Remove Him From the Priesthood
12
Spectrum News. Hubbard Deposition Accuser Reactions
13
Times Union. Bishop Howard J. Hubbard Eulogized
14
National Catholic Reporter. Victims’ Lawyers Try to Make Sense of Bishop Hubbard’s Request to Be Laicized
15
WAMC. Former Bishop Hubbard Married Woman in July, Asks for Privacy as Legal Cases Continue
16
National Catholic Reporter. Retired Bishop in New York State Gets Married After Bid to Leave Priesthood Denied
17
National Catholic Register. How to Bury a Disgraced Deceased Bishop
18
WAMC. Albany Bishop Emeritus Howard Hubbard Dies With His Status in the Church Community in Flux
19
Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger
20
Catholic World Report. Diocese of Albany Announces $148 Million Settlement for Abuse Victims