Cambria County Man Joins Federal Suit That Says Catholic Hierarchy Covered up Abuse

By Torsten Ove
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 14, 2018

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2018/11/14/Cambria-county-shaun-dougherty-federal-suit-against-Catholic-hierarchy-pedophile-priests/stories/201811140143

A Cambria County man who says a Johnstown priest abused him when he was a child is among a group of plaintiffs who sued Catholic church leaders in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, claiming they covered up the actions of pedophile priests across the nation.

Shaun Dougherty, who lives in Westmont outside of Johnstown, is one of six men who brought the suit in federal court in the District of Columbia against the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Holy See in Vatican City.

The suit, which is seeking class action status on behalf of some 5,000 potential plaintiffs across the United States, alleges that church leaders protected priests who sexually abused children and moved them around from church to church.

In addition to Mr. Dougherty, the plaintiffs are from Arizona, Mississippi, Illinois, California and New Jersey and all claim to have suffered at the hands of predator priests.