FW Catholic Diocese settles sex-abuse suit

Fort Worth, Texas --

The Fort Worth Catholic Diocese has agreed to pay more than $4 million to settle a sex-abuse lawsuit involving a priest whom Bishop Joseph Delaney hired despite a documented 20-year history of misconduct with minors elsewhere.

Bishop Delaney admitted no wrongdoing in the suit, but it's clear he knew the risks of employing the Rev. Thomas Teczar. The bishop's own notes, surrendered in the suit, say the priest admitted to him before starting work in 1988 that he was "attracted to adolescents in every way, including sexually."
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Jim Douglas reports

At that time, Father Teczar had been out of work for four years after repeated abuse allegations led to his removal from ministry in Massachusetts and inpatient therapy at a clergy treatment center. He pledged his personal assets to the Fort Worth Diocese in case it was ever sued over his actions, according to church records surrendered in the lawsuit.

Read the article at Dallas Morning News Dated April 9, 2005

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