Anthony P. Conmy

Ordained: 1953
Diocese: Diocese of Scranton

From Report I of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania:

On July 23, 1955, Rt. Reverend Monsignor Dennis Kane sent a letter to Bishop Jerome D. Hannan advising that a situation in West Hazleton had been brought to his notice. He wrote that:

“It appears that Father Conmy is exposed to a danger because of a friendship which is not good for him and which is the occasion of gossip. If my judgment is correct and I think it is, a change to be effected when September comes around, will mean much for his protection.  My thought is that he should be sent to one of the more remote parishes where the occasion would be remote. Moreover, he might be instructed to stay away from this Deanery.”

On August 5, 1955, Hannan responded to this letter by stating Conmy had agreed to Hannan’s invitation for an interview.  Hannan further stated that he felt that Kane’s suggestion would be very acceptable to Comny since he had showed a willingness to cooperate in any manner that seemed advisable.

On April 7, 2008, a 49-year-old female reported to the Diocese of Scranton that she was sexually assaulted by Conmy when she was 10-years-old.  She explained that she and a friend had stopped at the rectory to talk to Conmy and thereafter got into a car with him.  He dropped off her friend at her home.  Conmy then drove to a wooded area where he molested her.   He grabbed her wrist tightly and put his hand over her mouth as she struggled. He also put his knee in her stomach in order to hold her down.  When he removed his hand from her mouth, she begged him not to kill her.  Conmy told her that he would not kill her if she would lie quietly. He then took her off her clothes and touched her.  He took her hand and made her touch him. Next, he performed oral sex on her. The victim wrote that:

“[M]y whole world was being turned up-side-down, all my perceptions of ow things should be, of what good and bad were, or how people, especially priests, were supposed to act, of who to trust, were shattered.”

The victim requested that the Diocese not report this abuse to the Lycoming County District Attorney’s Office.  The Diocese agreed.

In a letter to the victim dated May 30, 2008, Bishop James F. Martino advised that Comny had died. He offered to meet with her and assured her that the Diocese would assist her with professional counseling services.

Additional information regarding the widespread sexual abuse of children within the Catholic Dioceses of Pennsylvania and the systemic cover up by senior church officials is compiled in the Pennsylvania Diocese Victim’s Report published by the Pennsylvania Attorney General following a two-year grand jury investigation.  A complete copy of the Report is available on the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s website.