CHELSEA — The former pastor of a Catholic church in Chelsea has been barred from the priesthood after being caught with child pornography on his computer, officials said.
The Rev. Keith Fennessy, who served as pastor of St. Columba Parish, at 343 W. 25th St., until last June, will “never be permitted to function as a priest again” following the discovery, Archdiocese of New York spokesman Joseph Zwilling said.
An archdiocesan review board recommended the ban last month after it found material discovered on Fennessy’s computer violated the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, according to a report published in the archdiocesan newspaper Catholic New York.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan accepted the board’s recommendation soon after, Zwilling said. A short bio of Fennessy on a website for the church, said Dolan appointed him pastor of St. Columba in August 2011.
When the material — which included child pornography — was first found in June, it was turned over to the Manhattan and Staten Island District Attorney’s offices, he confirmed. Zwilling did not say whether Fennessy was facing criminal charges.
On Wednesday, Joan Vollero, the director of communications for the Manhattan District Attorney's office, said the matter was referred to the office in mid-2015.
"The investigation has concluded and no criminal charges were brought," she said in a statement.
The Staten Island District Attorney's office did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Fennessy was “immediately” removed from his post, and has been living in a “supervised setting” since then, Zwilling added.
“While I do not wish to in any way minimize the seriousness of this matter, I do want to point out that we have not received any allegations that Fr. Fennessy abused anyone,” the spokesman said.
“If anyone does have such an allegation, we urge them to go immediately to the District Attorney to report it, and to notify our Victim Assistance Coordinators as well,” he added.
Fennessy, who was ordained in 1984, worked for parishes in The Bronx, Suffern, N.Y., and Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., before coming to Manhattan, the church's website said.
Between 2006 and June 2010, he served as the pastor of St. Margaret Mary R.C. Church on Staten Island, but stepped down to care for his mother as controversy brewed over plans to sell part of the church’s property to the Muslim American Society, the Staten Island Advance reported.
He also served as a member of Community Board 4, which covers Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen, until as recently as June 2015, after joining the board in 2013 during his time at St. Columba.
“We’re a very diverse church, there’s a big cross-section of the neighborhood that comes here, so it’s good to be involved with local comings and goings,” Fennessy told DNAinfo in 2013.
Between 1997 and 2007, the lifelong New Yorker who grew up in Stuyvesant Town, served on Community Board 2 in Greenwich Village while working at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral as its first permanent Irish-American priest since 1937.
A woman who answered the phone at St. Columba on Tuesday said the church does not comment on matters of the sort.
