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  Sexual Assault Lawsuit against Texas Catholic Priest Settled

KENS
January 21, 2011

http://www.kens5.com/news/Sexual-assault-lawsuit-against-Texas-Catholic-priest-settled-114392134.html

[with video]

The Archdiocese of San Antonio has reached a settlement in a sexual abuse lawsuit.

A 19-year-old man says he was sexually assaulted by Father John Fiala when the priest served at Sacred Heart of Mary parish in Rocksprings.

Fiala has denied any inappropriate conduct, but he was arrested last November, accused of trying to hire someone to kill his accuser.

Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller says it is important to settle the case to begin the process of healing.

"This is a very sad thing and very painful for me, for the church, for above all, the family, for the person directly affected by this," said the archbishop.

The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, and there is no comment, yet, from the victim or his family, but a sexual abuse survivor group is speaking out about the settlement.

"I don't think that money's going to take care of any of these matters that this family's going to have to continue to live with," says Barbara Garcia Boehland of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). "Our main concern is this priest is still out there. He's still a child molester. He's still murder for hire. We want to know what the archdiocese is gonna do."

The archdiocese says it is cooperating with the investigation and pledges to continue its efforts to prevent abuse through its policies and procedures.

 
 

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