A 25 year-old male has filed a lawsuit against a priest that sexually abused him when he was 10 years-old, along with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco, the Bishop of San Jose, the Bishop of Fresno, the Diocese of Fresno Education Corporation, St. Frances Cabrini Church and St. Frances Cabrini School for covering it up, as reported by the Courthouse News Service.
The suit, filed by an unidentified male in Superior Court, claims that the Catholic leadership allowed a priest to sexually abuse boys, and at least one girl, by continually transferring him when new allegations sprang up.
The suit accused Father D.F. of abusing children for almost 50 years in various parishes and schools throughout the state of California.
D.F. began his career as a chaplain in Fresno's San Joaquin Memorial High School (SJMHS) in 1964. He was then moved from Fresno to Santa Clara University, and from there to the University of San Francisco. He was also transferred to parishes in Napa, Monterey, San Jose and Oakland.
Currently D.F. is retired, however, he was seen helping out at mass in his residential living facility.
The suit states, "Among other things, (D.F.) regularly and openly inappropriately touched boys, removed select boys from classes for private meetings in his office, asked them sexual questions, and often attempted to give his misconduct the false appearance of appropriateness. For instance, one of his ploys was to attempt to cloak his sexual questions in purported penitential communications by inducing boys to agree to let him hear their confessions outside the confessional."
Another ploy the priest allegedly used was to inflict pain on the child while inappropriately touching them. According to the suit incidents occurred "so frequent and well known that the boys at SJMHS openly discussed the fact that (D.F.) was attracted to boys, warned each other to watch out for him…"
The plaintiff claims that D.F. chose him due to his youth and then was able to talk his parents into seeing him privately, for counseling. During the counseling the plaintiff said that D.F. examined his genitalia, assuring him that he just wanted to "make sure everything works."
Plaintiff claims that due to the repeated abuse, and the knowledge that D.F. was being protected by the Diocese, he suffers with recurring psychological damage.
The suit continues, "Time and again defendants have had the opportunity to end the cycle of abuse by reporting perpetrators such as (D.F.) to law enforcement, by assisting rather than obstructing criminal investigations such as those of Fr. (D.F.), and by warning the general public when a priest has been accused of sexually assaulting a child."
The plaintiff is suing for punitive damages and an injunction for, among other things: negligence, fraud, breach of duty, childhood sexual abuse and sexual battery.
Being abused by a member of the clergy, whether or not church leaders covered it up, is grounds for a lawsuit. Contact a personal injury lawyer to file your lawsuit. Monetary awards are often made for damages in a case like this.