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  Pa. Suit Alleges Coverup of Clergy Abuse

Boston Globe
February 15, 2011

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/02/15/suit_alleges_pa_archdiocese_covered_up_clergy_abuse/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Boston+Globe+--+National+News

PHILADELPHIA — A former Catholic school student has sued the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, saying clergy covered up sexual assaults allegations against two priests who molested him in the 1990s.

According to the lawsuit filed yesterday in Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas, the plaintiff was assaulted by a seminarian while a student at one school and by a priest while a student at another.

The lawsuit contends that the seminarian was later ordained as a priest and the second priest was convicted of sexually assaulting another student.

The suit follows criminal charges filed last week against three priests and a high-ranking archdiocese official accused of failing to protect children from predator priests.

It is the first such prosecution in the long-running Catholic church crisis in the United States.

The suit names Cardinal Justin Rigali and his predecessor, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua. A message left with the archdiocese was not immediately returned yesterday.

Philadelphia's district attorney last week announced charges against three priests, a parochial school teacher, and Monsignor William Lynn, who was secretary of the clergy and a top official in the Philadelphia archdiocese from 1992 to 2004.

The three priests and teacher were charged with raping boys. Lynn was accused of endangering children, not molesting them.

 
 

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