Two more men sue Pittsburgh diocese claiming abuse; two suits tossed in Allentown

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -

Two more men have sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, claiming they were plied with alcohol and sexually abused by priests decades ago, and a Schuylkill County panel of judges dismissed two abuse lawsuits against the Allentown Diocese they said were filed too late.

The two men bring to 35 the number of people who have sued the Pittsburgh diocese in the past year claiming they were molested by 18 former priests. None of the cases has gone to trial.

A 53-year-old man from McKeesport claims in his lawsuit that he was fondled by a priest at St. Mary Czestochowa Church in McKeesport, a Pittsburgh suburb, when he was 11 years old. A 45-year-old man claims he was fondled and sodomized at the St. Paul Church in Butler by a former priest when he was 15 years old.

Lawyers representing the victims contend that the diocese protected and reassigned priests that were involved in abusing children.

Read the article at phillyBurbs.com dated 1/30/2005

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