SAN ANTONIO (TX)
San Antonio Express-News
By Abe Levy
Jury selection begins today in the Bexar County trial of a lawsuit accusing the Archdiocese of San Antonio of covering up a former priest’s sexual abuse of an altar boy in Floresville in the mid-1970s.
Louis Paul White repeatedly sexually abused a then-12-year-old boy, the lawsuit claims, chiding the Catholic hierarchy for waiting until 1989 to defrock White and until only three years ago to publicize his name as an accused child molester.
White, now 69, was an associate pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Floresville from 1976 to 1977, when the alleged abuse took place. The lawsuit claims that he molested the boy in White’s bedroom, a shop at the rectory and the church itself — up to three times a week for six months.
The claims in the lawsuit follow the story line of the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal nationwide, in which bishops transferred pedophile priests from parish to parish, which produced more victims along the way. U.S. bishops enacted a landmark policy in 2002 to foster greater accountability in light of mounting media reports and public criticism.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.