Father Damian Cooper (aka Lawrence Dean Cooper)
Diocese of Rockville Centre
Ordained: 1986
Removed: 1994
Assigned as follows:
- 1986-1990 Holy Rosary (Vancouver, BC)
- 1994 St. Jude (Vancouver, BC)
- 1991 St. Joseph (Langley, BC
- 1995-1997 St. Hugh of Lincoln (Huntington Station, NY)
- 1992 St. Ann (Aldergrove, BC)
- 1998-2001 Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Lindenhurst, NY)
- 1993 St. Joseph (Squamish, BC)
- 2001-2019 Unknown
Summary of Abuse Allegations Against Father Damian Cooper:
Father Damian Cooper was ordained in the Archdiocese of Vancouver. According to media reports, in 1994, a woman alleged that Father Cooper engaged in a sexual relationship with her beginning when she was a 17-year-old minor and continued for five years. He was about 27 years old at the time. She met the priest while he was a chaplain at a retreat when she was 15 years old. At age 16, she received counseling from him at cathedral offices. Eventually in 1985, he began taking her to motels, and their ‘sexual relationship’ began. It ended in 1992. Father Cooper was removed from ministry and sent for treatment.
The Diocese of Rockville Centre reinstated Father Cooper to ministry as an associate pastor. Church officials were “fully informed” but “optimistic” of his behavior. In 2001, he was removed from the Diocese of Rockville Centre amid another child sexual abuse allegation. He returned to British Columbia and started work as a spiritual director at the Fraser Valley Pregnancy Centre in Aldergrove, British Columbia. In December 2012, Father Cooper’s 1994 accuser brought a civil lawsuit against him alleging child sexual abuse. His current whereabouts are unknown.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in New York, contact our office today. In October 2020, the Rockville Centre Diocese filed for federal bankruptcy protection. The Court will resolve all claims of sexual abuse in this process but strict filing deadlines will apply and no late claims will be considered, so contact us today. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in New York and nationwide. We can help.
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