Qns. priest horror

Accused of molesting girls at school

FIFTEEN WOMEN are claiming Tuesday they were sexually abused by a priest at a Catholic school in Queens over a span of two decades.

The women say they were abused by the Rev. Adam Prochaski at the Holy Cross school in Maspeth between 1973 and 1994, according to their lawyer Mitchell Garabedian and Robert Hoatson of the New Jersey-based Road to Recovery group, which helps victims of sexual abuse.

Garabedian was portrayed by Stanley Tucci in the movie “Spotlight” about the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning series on clergy sexual abuse.

Garabedian said the alleged victims were between the ages of 5 and 16 years old at the time of the abuse.

“The sexual abuse happened here at Holy Cross Church, in the church, in Holy Cross Rectory, in the Holy Cross school, in cars and in homes where Father Prochaski used to visit the children,” Garabedian said. “He would sexually abuse them in unimaginable ways, according to the allegations.”

He added, “The question remains — where were the supervisors of Father Prochaski? Why weren’t they protecting innocent little girls from the heinous crimes of sexual abuse?”

Prochaski was assigned to Holy Cross Parish, which is part of the Brooklyn-Queens Diocese, for about 25 years beginning in 1969 and ending in 1994. He was pastor of the parish for about four years. He later married and lives in Queens, sources said.

A spokeswoman for the diocese said Prochaski left the priesthood shortly after the first allegations against him were reported to the diocese.

She said it immediately reports all abuse allegations to authorities, and that in June it implemented the Independent Reconciliation Compensation Program.

“While no amount of money can heal the scars of abuse, we hope the program can help with the healing process and provide some element of closure,” diocesan spokeswoman Carolyn Erstad said.

“Our intention is to show solidarity with victims.”

Many of his victims were teen girls who came to the U.S. from Poland, Hoatson said.

Garabedian credited former Holy Cross teacher Linda Porcaro with encouraging the victims to come forward.

Porcaro, 63, taught middle school at the school from 1986 to 1991. and