Diocese: Archdiocese of New York
Summary of Assignments:
- 1970: Deacon at St. Mary’s; Wappingers Falls, NY
- 1971: Graduated St. Joseph’s Seminary; Yonkers, NY
- 1972-1976: St. Mary’s; Poughkeepsie, NY
- 1977-1982: St. Denis; Hopewell Junction, NY
- 1983: St. Mary’s; Marlboro, NY
- 1984: St. Eugene’s; Yonkers, NY
- 1984: St. Charles Borromeo; Ulster County, NY
- 1984-1987: Immaculate Conception; Tuckahoe, NY
- 1987-2000: Pastor at Holy Name of Mary; Croton-on-Hudson, NY
- 2001-2003: Not listed in Directory
- 2002: Annulments office, Catholic Center; Poughkeepsie, NY
Notes:
Reports of complaints regarding Gentile’s behavior date back to 1971. Over the course of his career as a priest, he has been accused of sexual abuse by at least 5 families or individuals. He is believed to have abused dozens of boys.
Gentile frequently invited boys on unchaperoned overnight stays at the rectory and on longer trips, despite warnings by other priests to cease these trips. These trips included weekend and weeklong visits to “Jerry’s Retreat,” his five-bedroom house on Ballston Lake. One priest wrote an anonymous letter to the Archdiocese in 1995 regarding Gentile’s behavior and followed through personally in 1996.
In a 1997 lawsuit, Gentile was accused of abusing two brothers in 1993 and 1994. The lawsuit was confidentially settled in 2001. Gentile was placed on leave in April 2002 and laicized in 2005.
In 2017, three men who accused Gentile of abuse were reported to have received $250,000 each from the New York Archdiocese Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP). The three men accused Gentile of sexually abusing them between the ages of 9 and 15, with the abuse ongoing for 6 years.
Sources: Bronx Press 03.22.02; NY Times 03.24.02; Daily News 03.27.02; Daily News 03.28.02; Journal News 04.07.02; Times Herald-Record 04.10.02; Daily News 05.16.02; Daily News 06.16.02; USA Today 11.11.02; Journal News 07.09.05; Journal News 09.02.05; Renew America 04.02.06; The Heights 02.15.10; CBS New York 09.29.13; Journal News 09.30.13; SNAP Press Release 10.01.13; http://www.bishop-accountability.org/; Times Herald-Record 12.10.17
Note: Years listed indicate editions of the Official Catholic Directory. Because of the publication schedule of the Directory, a priest listed at a parish in a given year was also likely at that parish for part of the previous year.