Played God

Priest said Lord punished squealer: accuser

THE ABUSIVE Catholic priest accused of terrorizing at least 15 girls at a Queens school decades ago once threatened one of his victims into silence with the power of God.

In 1981, the Rev. Adam Prochaski of the Holy Cross parish in Maspeth allegedly lectured a group of students, including one of his victims, who was then 13, about a woman who was “saying bad things” about him.

“He thought he was God,” the now-49-year-old nurse living in Toronto told the Daily News.

“He said, ‘She died in a car accident, her body burned beyond recognition. God punished her for telling stories about Father Adam.’ When he told the story, he was looking right at me.”

She said Prochaski (photo), now 75 and living in Queens, sexually abused her at least 60 times between the ages of 11 and 13 between 1979 and 1981 at the church and school. She requested that her name not be used.

He used his involvement in the choir and in the teen club and his general influence in the school to get close to her, she said.

“It happened everywhere, in the auditorium, in the church hall, the sacristy, the principal’s office. He would have me come in on Fridays to meet him in the rectory,” she said.

“One time was on a class trip while I was sleeping. I never wanted to go to school. He knew exactly how to prey on me.”

She said that Prochaski rubbed his penis up against her, groped her breasts inside her shirt and fondled her genitals, all the while maintaining a unnervingly calm air.

“He never said anything before or during,” she said. “It was almost routine, like he does it all the time. I was so terrified that one time I peed in my pants.”

She never told her friends, her parents, the nuns or her teachers about the sick meetings with Prochaski.

“I think he chose me because I was an easy target,” she said. “I was the brain. I didn’t lie. I was accepted by my peers. He knew that I would keep quiet.”

She works for a medical company and is married, but the abuse echoed for the rest of her life, manifesting itself in two suicide attempts, depression, hypersexuality, loss of self-esteem and relentless night terrors.

“I wake up screaming from dreams in which I’m getting attacked,” she said. “My husband has to wake me up.”

She went on high school, to college and a career. But she said she moved to Canada to make a clean break from the past.

The Toronto nurse said she decided to come forward because she hopes to empower other victims, even though it might open a “Pandora’s box.”

“My message is don’t be afraid to turn your life upside down and speak out,” she said. “I think it’s the road to healing.”