| Assignment Record – Rev. Eugene F. Orteneau, s.j. Summary of Case: Eugene F. Orteneau was ordained a Jesuit of the New England Province in 1982, going on to minister in New York City and Storrs, CT. He left active ministry in 1994 after his Jesuit superiors asked him to leave his Storrs parish. The Jesuits at the time did not state a reason for Orteneau's removal. An attorney for the order revealed in 2007 that a Boston Jesuit inteviewed children in 1994 at the parish, concerned about possible improper sexual contact. Orteneau was at the time providing a place for troubled teens to sleep in his office. In a 2005 lawsuit Orteneau was accused of sexually abusing a boy during his time in Storrs, beginning when the boy was16 years old. The boy's sister had reported to the diocese in 2003 that Orteneau had sexually abused two other Storrs boys. Orteneau is said to have followed and moved in with the accuser who sued in 2005 to South Florida, when the boy was an 18-year-old college student. Orteneau was arrested on a Florida street after attempting suicide and sent to the Institute of Living in Hartford, CT for psychiatric treatment. At some point he moved to North Carolina. The Jesuits dismissed him from the order in 2003. Orteneau died in April 2009. Ordained: 1982 Died: April 8, 2009 |
| Start | Stop | Parish/Assignment | Town/Accusations | State | Position | Notes |
| 1982 | 1985 | Orteneau is not indexed in the 1983-1985 Directories. | ||||
1985 New York archbishop was John Joseph O'Connor (1984-2000). |
1989 | Xavier Jesuit Community | New York | NY | ||
| 1989 | 1990 | Orteneau is not indexed in the 1990 Directory. He told a reporter in 1994 that he took a year off and moved to Vermont. | ||||
1990 Norwich bishop was Daniel Patrick Reilly (1975-1994). |
1994 | Eastern Connecticut State University | Storrs | CT | chaplain | |
| 1990 | 1994 | St. Thomas Aquinas | Storrs • Orteneau provided a place for teens who were "having trouble at home" to sleep in his office. He was accused in a 2005 lawsuit of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy from 1991-1993. The boy was a member of the parish youth group. According to this accuser's attorney in 2007, a Jesuit from Boston asked several children from St. Thomas Aquinas while Orteneau was assigned there about improper sexual contact. • In 2003 the sister of the man who filed suit in 2005 filed a complaint with the diocese that Orteneau had sexually abused two other boys. |
CT | 3/3 | Orteneau was asked to leave the parish in 1994 by his Jesuit superior. Per news reports, Orteneau was to leave St. Thomas Aquinas in July 1994, and the Jesuit order soon thereafter. The Jesuits did state a reason publicly. |
1994 Boston archbishop was Bernard Francis Law (1984-2002). |
1997 | Society of Jesus New England Provincial Office | Boston | MA | Orteneau is listed in the 1996 and 1997 Directories under the New England Province, but an assignment is not specified. Orteneau is said to have moved to South Florida to live with the boy he was accused in a 2005 lawsuit of sexually abusing beginning when the boy was 16. The boy was an 18-year-old college student when Orteneau moved in. Further, Orteneau later attempted suicide and was arrested on a South Florida street. He was sent to the Institute of Learning in Hartford, CT for psychiatric treatment. |
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| 1997 | 1998 | Orteneau is not indexed in the 1998 Directory. | ||||
1998 Law was replaced by Sean Patrick O'Malley, o.f.m. Cap. (2003-). |
2003 | Society of Jesus New England Provincial Office | Boston | MA | Orteneau is listed in the 1999-2000 Directories under the New England Province, but an assignment is not specified. He is not listed beyond the 2003 Directory. An attorney for the Jesuits said in 2007 that Orteneau left active ministry in 1994, and that he was dismissed from the Jesuit order in 2003. Orteneau died April 8, 2009. His obituary notes that he had been living in Huntersville, NC. |
Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1986-2003) • He Hears a Different Drummer, Nonconformist Priest Removed by Jesuit Leadership, By Laura Ungar, Hartford Courant [Connecticut], June 13, 1994
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