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	Diocese, Egan Face New Lawsuit on Priest Abuse By Daniel Tepfer News Times March 3, 2010 http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Diocese-Egan-face-new-lawsuit-on-priest-abuse-390504.php TRUMBULL (CT) -- A man filed suit Wednesday against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport and retired Cardinal Edward Egan, claiming he was abused by a priest at St. Theresa's Church in the early 1990s. In the suit filed at New Haven Superior Court, Brooks Thopsey, 30, claims he was molested numerous times by then-Rev. John J. Castaldo when he was 10 years old. This is the fourth lawsuit filed against the diocese by people who claim they were abused by Castaldo, who also served at St. Edward the Confessor in New Fairfield from 1994 to 1998, and St. Rose of Lima in Newtown until 1999. Two other suits, including one brought by Thopsey's older brother, Ryan, have already been settled for undisclosed sums.. "Castaldo had been grooming this entire family for this abuse," said Joel Faxon, Brooks Thopsey's lawyer. "The Diocese of Bridgeport is surprised to learn through a press release of the claim by Brooks Thopsey that he was abused by former priest John Castaldo," said diocesan spokesman Brian Wallace. "The diocese has credible information dating back to 2004 that Mr. Thopsey was not sexually abused by John Castaldo. "In the past, a representative on behalf of Mr. Thopsey had contacted us to claim that Mr. Thopsey had experienced some psychological harm related to another matter, but not as a result of being sexually abused by John Castaldo. Three years later, his father called the diocese suggesting that Brooks Thopsey had been harmed. The diocese immediately reached out, but Brooks Thopsey (who was already an adult) never responded." Wallace also said the plaintiff in the other pending lawsuit against the Diocese of Bridgeport and Castaldo had contacted the diocese on Monday to say that he had instructed his lawyer to withdraw the case because he has severe memory problems and now doubts the truth of his claims. Castaldo's lawyer, Robert Golger, said he hadn't seen the latest lawsuit and couldn't comment on it. Castaldo was arrested in 2001 and charged with having explicit sexual conversations via the Internet with a person he thought was a 14-year-old boy, but was actually an undercover police officer. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one weekend in jail in New York and five years of probation. The chaplain at Stamford Catholic High School at the time of his arrest, Castaldo was later defrocked by Bishop William Lori. The lawsuit contends that Egan assigned Castaldo to St. Theresa's Church even though he had prior information that Castaldo had exhibed bizarre behavior and had "disturbing psychological assessments that noted he was fearful of his own aggressive drives and had difficulty accepting his own sexual urges and desires as normal."
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