CALIFORNIA
Courthouse News Service
By MARIA DINZEO
SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – Catholic leadership tolerated a priest’s repeated sexual abuse of boys and at least one girl in parishes and schools across the state, a former student claims in court.
The plaintiff in a Superior Court lawsuit, identified only as a 25-year-old male, says Father Don Flickinger sexually abused him when he was about 10 years old.
He claims Flickinger was allowed to work with children for nearly 50 years, beginning in 1964 when he was a chaplain at San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno. Throughout his career, Flickinger was transferred 20 times, from Fresno to Santa Clara University and the University of San Francisco, to parishes in Napa, Monterey, San Jose and Oakland. He is currently assigned to the New Bethany Residence in Los Banos, a residential living facility where he is supposedly retired, but was seen assisting in performing mass in last August, according to the 55-page lawsuit.
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