KENTUCKY
Courier-Journal
Andrew Wolfson, @adwolfson March 29, 2016
The parents of a boy photographed by the Rev. Stephen Pohl at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church has sued the Archdiocese of Louisville, saying that for decades he engaged in the bizarre practice of taking pictures of clothed children in sexual poses and that the church should have put a stop to it.
The suit, filed Tuesday in Jefferson Circuit Court, also says Pohl’s misconduct shows the archdiocese broke the promises it made to ferret out abusive priests when it paid $25.7 million in 2003 to 243 men and women who were molested as children at Catholic schools and churches.
“Such promises are proven by the conduct of Father Stephen Pohl to be hollow assurances,” attorney William F. McMurry says in the complaint filed on behalf of Christeena and Richard Gallahue Jr. “Sadly, these past lawsuits have done nothing to change the leadership culture, and the children of the church remain at serious risk of sexual abuse and exploitation by priests.”
McMurry was co-lead counsel in the priest abuse settlement, which at the time was the largest paid by an archdiocese out of its own pocket.
The suit was filed as Pohl was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to 33 months in federal prison for accessing child porn from computers at the rectory and office of St. Margaret Mary, where he was a pastor.
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