Brooklyn Diocese priest abused Suffolk man who was altar boy in 1960s, lawsuit says

A Suffolk County man alleges he was sexually abused by a Roman Catholic priest when he served as an altar boy in the Diocese of Brooklyn in the 1960s, according to a new lawsuit.

Anthony Ianella alleges that he was about 10 years old when the Rev. George Stark started sexually molesting him in the sacristy at Our Lady of the Snows Church in Floral Park, Queens, according to the lawsuit filed Jan. 31 in state Supreme Court in Suffolk County.

The abuse took place about a dozen times over a two-year period, the lawsuit states. The suit names the diocese, Stark and Our Lady of the Snows as defendants.

Stark died in 2020, the Diocese of Brooklyn said Friday. He was ordained in 1961, and removed from ministry in 2002 "due to a finding of credible sex abuse allegations," the diocese said. That meant he was not allowed to present himself as a priest or say Mass.

In 2019, he was included on a list of credibly accused priests put out by the diocese.

Ianella and his attorneys filed their lawsuit under New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, which in 2023 opened a two-year window allowing abuse survivors to file lawsuits regardless of how long ago the alleged abuse occurred. The window closes March 1.

Hundreds of lawsuits were filed against Brooklyn and Catholic dioceses throughout the state including on Long Island under a similar law called the New York State Child Victims Act, which opened a one-year window starting in 2019. It was extended another year because of the pandemic.

The lawsuit involving Stack states that he was a "friendly, jovial, and approachable priest who groomed Plaintiff through specialized treatment and attention ... knowing it would make Plaintiff easier to exploit and manipulate."

While typically two altar boys would serve at a Mass, Stack would have Ianella serve alone at some Masses with him, the lawsuit states. Stack oversaw assigning altar boys at the parish, according to court papers.

Stack would abuse Ianella in the sacristy, the lawsuit states.

Ianella, "being a young boy who thought he could trust a priest who guided him as an altar boy, was confused by Father Stack’s actions," the lawsuit states. He "felt that Father Stack, as a man of God who oversaw the altar boys, was surely a trustworthy authority figure who would never harm him."

That trust and confusion prevented him from telling anyone about the abuse at the time, the lawsuit states.

Ianella has suffered "severe emotional distress, emotional anguish, feelings of shame, guilt, and embarrassment, and other injuries" due to the abuse, the lawsuit states.

The Diocese of Brooklyn spokeswoman Adriana Rodriguez had no comment on the suit, but said in a statement the diocese has implemented numerous steps since 2003 to try to prevent clergy sex abuse.

They include sharing all clergy sex abuse allegations with the district attorney and a "zero-tolerance" policy under which any clergy member credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor is permanently removed from ministry, the statement said. All diocesan clergy, employees and volunteers also undergo sexual abuse awareness training, the diocese said.