Updated: 5:59 PM CST February 11, 2021
PITTSFIELD, Mass. A former altar boy who says he was sexually abused by a now-deceased Roman Catholic bishop has filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for the suffering he alleges was made worse by a church coverup.
The now-grown man from Chicopee, Massachusetts, identified in court papers as John Doe alleges in the suit filed in Hampden Superior Court that Diocese of Springfield officials, including former Bishop Mitchell Rozanski, engaged in a coverup to protect the reputation of Bishop Christopher Weldon, The Berkshire Eagle reported Tuesday.
Weldon served as bishop from 1950 until 1977. He died in 1982.
Rozanski is now Archbishop of St. Louis.
Cathedral High School graduate finds validation after Springfield diocese hears her sexual abuse claim against late Rev. Karl Huller
Updated Feb 12, 2021;
Posted Feb 12, 2021
The late Rev. Karl Huller s photograph is seen in a screen capture from the website for St. Michael s Cathedral in Springfield, where he once served as rector and a meeting room at the Bishop Marshall Center was once named in his honor. In 2004, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield settled claims by two men who alleged they were sexually abused by Huller as students at Cathedral High School. In December 2020, the diocese accepted as credible a third survivor s claim that she was also sexually assaulted by Huller as a student there in the 1960s.
A former altar boy who says he was sexually abused by a now deceased Roman Catholic bishop has filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for the suffering he alleges was made worse by a church coverup.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. (AP) A former altar boy who says he was sexually abused by a now deceased Roman Catholic bishop has filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for the suffering he alleges was made worse by a church coverup.The now grown man from.
Former Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, pictured, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield is one of several people named as defendants in a lawsuit filed by the man whose sexual assault allegations against the late Bishop Christopher J. Weldon were found to be âunequivocally credibleâ by an independent judge. EAGLE FILE PHOTO
The former altar boy who accused a legendary bishop of rape â an account deemed âunequivocally credibleâ by a retired judge last summer â wants to be compensated for his suffering, citing inaction and connivance by church officials that, he says, exacerbated his pain.
In a lawsuit filed in Hampden Superior Court, the Chicopee man alleges that current and former officials within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, including former Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, engaged in a cover-up to protect the reputation of the late Bishop Christopher J. Weldon.