Ordained: 1976
Status: Settled
Diocese: Diocese of Albany NY
Father John Hammer AKA, “Father Jack,” was removed from ministry in 2002 after admitting to abusing an altar boy between 1980 and 1983. He received treatment at St. Luke’s Institute in 1985 and was later employed as a hospital chaplain in the Baltimore Archdiocese. Father John Hammer’s faculties were revoked in Baltimore in 1990, but he was transferred to the Saginaw, MI, diocese by Bishop Malone, where he served as a pastor for the next 12 years.
In 9/2002, three plaintiffs from the Youngstown diocese and one from the Saginaw diocese filed a lawsuit alleging that church authorities were aware of wrongdoing by Hammer as early as 1978. He was named on the Baltimore Archdiocese’s list of accused in 9/2002 and was laicized in 2006. He was also included on the Saginaw diocese’s list on 4/25/2018 and the Youngstown diocese’s list on 10/29/2018. “Father Jack” was mentioned in the 4/5/2023 MD Attorney General’s Report.