Sister Mary Juanita Barto
Diocese of Brooklyn
Joined: 1952
Died: 2014
Assigned as follows:
- 1954-1956: Holy Rosary School (Bedford Stuyvesant, NY)
- 1956-1957: St. Thomas Aquinas, (Flatlands, NY)
- 1957-1960: Sacred Heart (Adelphi Street, Fort Greene, NY)
- 1960-1961: St. Agatha (Sunset Park, NY)
- 1961-1963: Queen of Angels (Sunnyside, NY)
- 1963-1966: St. Mary’s (Roslyn, L.I., NY)
- 1966-1968: Mater Christi H.S. (Astoria, NY)
- 1968-1988: Holy Trinity H.S. (Hicksville, L.I., NY)
Summary of Abuse Allegations against Sister Mary Juanita Barto:
Sr. Mary Juanita Barto was a Religious Sister of Mercy (R.S.M.). She joined the order in 1952 and professed her final vows in 1957. According to media reports, in the 2000s, a woman publicly accused Barto of sexually abusing her throughout high school, beginning when she was 15 years old, in the late 1960s.
After graduating high school in 1969, she tried to tell her story, but her efforts fell on deaf ears. The accuser, now in her late 60s, said “Nobody wanted to hear about the Vestal Virgins back then.”
The woman said that when Barto repeatedly raped her she told her, “God is Love”. The abuse allegedly occurred in classrooms at Mater Christi High School in Queens, New York on school buses to sporting events, at retreats in upstate NY, at the girl’s home in Woodside, and at a Long Island Convent.
“Sexual abuse leaves scars that last for life,” she wrote on her “Abuse by nuns” blog. “Dealing with those wounds and scars, and surviving through daily life is a challenge for many of us. Silence sometimes is a kind of defense which allows victims to hide from the pain (for a while).”
Some of the woman’s therapy was paid for by the Sisters of Mercy.
“More than 14 percent of nuns have been sexually abused themselves,” she said. “It’s this unattended rage they live with. It’s going to come out as physical abuse of children and sexual abuse.”
A lawsuit was filed in February 2020 and settled that year.
Barto died in May 2014.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Brooklyn. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Brooklyn, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Brooklyn now have legal options to recover damages due to a compensation fund created for victims. Call us at 888-283-9922 or send an email to [email protected] to discuss your options today.