Rev. John J. Stronkowski

Assignment Record– Rev. John J. Stronkowski

Summary of Case: John J. Stronkowski was ordained for the Diocese of Bridgeport in 1985. He assisted at parishes in Bridgeport, Fairfield and Danbury before being named pastor of St. Ambrose in Bridgeport in 2004. He was the lead priest at St. Margaret Mary in Shelton from September 2012 until May 2014 when the bishop asked him to resign due to "persistent absenteeism from both the rectory and the parish and its ministries, his growing difficulties with both the staff and lay leaders of the parish, and other personal and administrative shortcomings." Stronkowski was then on leave of absence. In June 2016 his name was included on the diocese's list of "Credibly Accused Diocesan Priests" for abuse of a minor more than ten years previously. He was placed on Administrative Leave and his faculties were removed.

Ordained: 1985

Start	Stop	Assignments	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1985 Diocese of Bridgeport Bishop was Walter William Curtis (1961-1988), followed by Edward Michael Egan (1988-2000).	1990	St. Patrick's	Bridgeport	CT	2/4, 2/3	St. Patrick's had a school with 248-215 students.
1985	1990	CT State Correctional Institution		CT		This was a station of St. Patrick's in Bridgeport.
1985	1990	St. Vincent Medical Center	Bridgeport	CT		This was a station of St. Patrick's in Bridgeport.
1990	1993	Assumption	Fairfield	CT	2/3	Assumption had a school with 360-330 students, and a CCD program with 324 students.
1993	1994					Stronkowski is not indexed in the 1994 Directory, nor is he listed in the diocesan pages as at his previous or next assignments.
1994 Egan was succeeded as Bridgeport bishop by William Edward Lori (2001-2012).	2004	St. Gregory's	Danbury	CT	2/3	St. Gregory''s had a school with 200-326 students.
2004	2012	St. Ambrose	Bridgeport	CT	1/3, 1/2, 1/1	St. Ambrose had a school with 300-222 students, and a CCD program with 30-64 students.
September 2012 Frank Joseph Caggiano replaced Lori (2013-).	May 2014	St. Margaret Mary	Shelton	CT	Administrator; Pastor	Stronkowski is not indexed in the 2013-2015 Directories, nor is he listed as at St. Margaret Mary. This assignment is per news reports.
May 2014	June 2016	Leave of Absence				Stronkowski was asked to resign by Bishop Caggiano in May 2014 for "persistent absenteeism from both the rectory and the parish and its ministries, his growing difficulties with both the staff and lay leaders of the parish, and other personal and administrative shortcomings."
June 2016		Administrative Leave				In June 2016 Stronkowski's name was included on the diocese's list of "Credibly Accused Diocesan Priests" for abuse of a minor more than ten years previously. He was placed on Administrative Leave and his faculties were removed.

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Source: Official Catholic Directory (Kenedy & Sons, 1986-2015).

• Catholic Diocese Removes Priest As Pastor of Shelton Church, Shelton Herald, May 12, 2014
• Bridgeport diocese haunted by past abuse, By Daniel Tepfer, CT Post, September 17, 2016

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Stronkowski's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with the allegations against him, as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegations we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on October 17, 2016.