Bishop John Jenik has been removed from public ministry.

The 74-year-old Catholic bishop was accused on inappropriate behavior with a teenage boy in the 1980s.

According to a report in the New York Times, auxiliary Bishop John Jenik of Our Lady of Refuge in the Bronx has denied the allegation, which will be investigated by the Vatican.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said in a statement, "Although the alleged incidents occurred decades ago, the Lay Review Board has concluded that the evidence is sufficient to find the allegation credible and substantiated."

Michael Meenan, the man who accused Bishop Jenik of abuse, first told the archdiocese about the relationship in January. 

Timothy Cardinal Dolan addresses sex allegations of Bishop John Jenik https://t.co/rtLdqAIadl

— Michael J. Meenan (@MickeyMeenan) November 3, 2018

He was interviewed last month by the Lay Review Board, an independent team of lawyers, judges, psychologists, and other experts who review sexual abuse allegations in the New York archdiocese.

In a letter to his parishioners, Bishop Jenik denied that he ever "abused anyone at any time."

He wrote, “I continue to steadfastly deny that I have ever abused anyone at any time. Therefore I will ask the Vatican, which has ultimate jurisdiction over such cases to review the matter, with the hope of ultimately proving my innocence.”

“...I’m here to tell you I’m not the only [victim]. There are others.” https://t.co/q9PYF2eDJ8 #NYC #Catholic #abuse

— Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) November 4, 2018

Bishop Jenik is the first active bishop to be accused of abusing a minor in the wave of abuse allegations that have swept throughout America.

US News reports that New York's attorney general has launched a probe into clergy sex abuse allegations in the Roman Catholic Church after a grand jury report found rampant sexual abuse by of more than 1,000 children by about 300 priests in Pennsylvania since the 1940s.

Now 52-years-old, Meenan told the New York Times, “There must be a price to pay for this. Because people should not have to go through this.” 

Meenan was also sexually abused by a religion teacher at his Jesuit high school in the Bronx in 1984. Though he first reported the incident that year, the allegation was rebuffed. In 2016, the school found the allegation credible and Meenan received a settlement.

The Catholic News Agency writes that Meenan said Bishop Jenik targeted him after confession because he knew that the then-13-year-old had family issues at home. 

“[Jenik] began taking me on and spending time with me as a means of cultivating a relationship that was immoral, inappropriate, and in some instances illegal,” Meenan said, calling it “the greatest evil I have witnessed in my lifetime.”