BRIDGEWATER (NJ)
Bridgewater Courier News
September 9, 2020
By Nick Muscavage
Two lawsuits filed against the Catholic Church on Wednesday include allegations of sexual abuse against two clerics — including a brother who worked at St. Joseph High School in Metuchen.
The suits, brought under the New Jersey Child Sexual Abuse Act and New Jersey Victims’ Rights Bill, allege abuse by Brother Regis Moccia and the Rev. Patrick H. Barrett, both who had not been publicly accused of abuse before Wednesday.
One lawsuit alleges that Moccia, a member of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, sexually abused a 13- to 14-year-old from approximately 1994 to 1995 while the plaintiff was a student at St. Joseph High School in Metuchen, a school in the Diocese of Metuchen staffed by the religious order.
The other lawsuit alleges that Barrett sexually abused a minor parishioner at St. Anthony of Padua Church in the Port Reading section of Woodbridge from approximately 1983 to 1984 when the plaintiff was 9 to 10 years old.
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