BishopAccountability.org
	Catholic Order Faces New Suit Alleging Abuse at Orphanage Associated Press, carried in Kentucky.com [Louisville KY] January 5, 2005 LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A Catholic order was sued Wednesday by a man claiming he was sexually abused by nuns while living at a Jefferson County orphanage when he was a boy. Richard Lauersdorf accused the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth of concealing the alleged abuse by nuns at the now-closed St. Thomas-St. Vincent Orphanage. Lauersdorf seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages from the religious order based in Nelson County, along with a jury trial. Several dozen other former residents of the orphanage have filed suit claiming they were molested by a priest or nuns over several decades. Lauersdorf, now 49, claims that he was beaten and molested repeatedly and forced to eat his own vomit. The suit does not name his alleged abusers. The suit said Lauersdorf lived at the orphanage in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Diane Curtis, a spokeswoman for the order, said she could not comment specifically on the suit because the order had not yet seen it. "However, the sisters are always saddened when such reports of abuse are made and we continue our efforts to seek the truth with regard to these allegations and we offer healing and compassion wherever we can," Curtis said. The suit claims that the order knew about the alleged abuse but failed to report it to law enforcement. It also said the order failed to discipline the nuns or prevent the alleged abuse. The suit said Lauersdorf suffers from "serious mental distress" caused by the alleged abuse. The order provided staffing for the orphanage, which was open from the 1950s until the early 1980s.
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